Border securityCBP faces lawsuits over treatment of illegal immigrants

A number of U.S. citizens along with illegal immigrants have filed several lawsuits on Tuesday against  Customs and Border Protection (CBP)  claiming they were abused and subjected to cruel tactics, including being forced to sit in freezing holding cells for day at a time.

The Mansfield News Journal reports that some of the lawsuits were filed in federal district courts, and the others were administrative complaints filed directly with the federal government, giving the government an opportunity to weigh the case and decide whether to offer a settlement. If no settlement is offered, the plaintiffs can file a suit in federal court.

The suits allege that the abuse by Border Patrol agents has increased over the years, as the number of agents has increased from 4,000 in the early 1990s to more than 21,000 today.

“I don’t think these are isolated cases,” Melissa Crow, who is representing one of the plaintiffs and is the director of the Legal Action Center at the American Immigration Council, told the Mansfield Journal. “The spectrum of cases we’re presenting exemplifies the culture of impunity that has taken hold at CBP.”

CBP spokesman Jenny Burke said the agency does not comment on pending ligation, but that the agency stresses “honor and integrity” in all missions.

“We do not tolerate misconduct or abuse within our ranks and we fully cooperate with all investigations of alleged unlawful conduct, on or off duty, by any of our CBP employees and contractors,” Burke said in a statement.

Joseph Anderson, a lawyer representing the immigrants who have filed suit, said his four clients were illegally crossing the border and were apprehended by CBP. They then were forced to stay in a holding cell described by Border Agents as the “hielera,” or “icebox,” for six days before being sent to other locations for their legal proceedings.

According to Anderson, his clients sat in a bed-less cell with their fingers and lips turning blue and their skin cracking from the cold.

“Based on having heard this from many, many people, and having each of them describe the same temperatures, it became clear to us that they didn’t just have a great air-conditioning system,” Anderson told the Journal.

Other claims include a 63-year-old woman who said she was forced to sit in a car for eight hours with no food or water.  Lucy Rogers, a naturalized U.S. citizen, said she was pulled over by Border agents while transporting two clients, who she did not know were illegal immigrants, to a medical visit. According to Rogers, Border Patrol agents held her for several hours on suspicion of human trafficking and confiscated her GPS device before eventually letting her go.

For Rogers, the lawsuit is about making sure this does not happen in the future. “I’m thinking about my son and so many other kids who are born here,” Rogers told the Journal.