Border securityRecords show Border Patrol agents typically not disciplined for abusing immigrants
Records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Immigration Council(AIC) found that of 809 abuse complaints reported to the Border Patrol’s internal affairs unit between January 2009 and January 2012, only thirteen led to disciplinary action, and most of the agents cited for disciplinary action were only ordered to undergo counseling. One expert on unauthorized migration says that Border Patrol agents are not properly trained or disciplined by the agency.”People are not being held accountable for their actions,” he said. He conducted a survey in which he found that 10 percent of migrants reported abuse by Border Patrol agents when they were found illegally crossing the border.
Records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Immigration Council (AIC) found that of 809 abuse complaints reported to the Border Patrol’s internal affairs unit between January 2009 and January 2012, only thirteen led to disciplinary action, and most of the agents cited for disciplinary action were only ordered to undergo counseling.
Most of the complaints against Border Patrol agents include alleged kicking, beating, sexual abuse, and other abuses of detainees in custody. In April 2011, a Border Patrol agent was ordered to undergo counseling after a formal complaint charging the agent with slamming an immigrant’s head against a rock near Tucson. In August of that year, an unaccompanied minor reported that a Border Patrol agent “hit him on the head with a metal flashlight twenty times, kicked him five times, pushed him down a hill.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that the case was still under review more than two years after the incident.
“This is another disturbing report shedding further light onto what we have known for far too long: We need accountability at Border Patrol,” Senator Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, referring to the records shared with theTimes.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the DHS agency in charge of the Border Patrol, does not routinely inform people about the outcomes of their complaints, and the Border Patrol has in the past rejected requests from the media and members of Congress for information about the use of force by agents.
The 44-page records list does not include allegations that were sent to the Justice Department, or to other federal offices with investigative authority over the Border Patrol. It also does not include at least fifteen cases in which Border Patrol agents shot and killed people along the border within the three-year period.
Customs and Border Protection chief R. Gil Kerlikowske said that he would review the Border Patrol’s use of force, stating that agents “strive to treat each of the over one million people we come into contact with each day with the respect they deserve. All allegations of misconduct are taken seriously, and if warranted, [are referred] for appropriate investigative and/or disciplinary action to be taken.”
DHS head Jeh Johnson recently ordered a review of the immigration enforcement system in order to find ways to ensure immigrants are treated more humanely.
Shawn Moran, vice president of the Border Patrol agents union, denied that abuse of detainees is widespread, adding that “there will always be a few bad apples.” Moran believes that releasing information about abuse investigations would assure the public that most agents are behaving appropriately. Moran also stated that some of the complaints are false, alleged by immigrants in an effort to slow down their deportation from the United States. “This is not a sterile business. It is law enforcement. Not everybody goes along peacefully,” he said.
Daniel Martinez, an assistant professor of sociology at George Washington University who studies unauthorized migration, says that Border Patrol agents are not properly trained or disciplined by the agency.”People are not being held accountable for their actions,” he said. Martinez conducted a survey in which he found that 10 percent of migrants reported abuse by Border Patrol agents when they were found illegally crossing the border.
The AIC and the American Civil Liberties Union have proposed the creation of a single, centralized complaint form and toll-free number that could be displayed at checkpoints, ports of entries, and on Border Patrol vehicles, allowing immigrants privately to report abuse.
Border Patrol chief Michael Fisher issued new rules in March that restricts agents from shooting at moving vehicles and at people throwing rocks, if a serious threat to agents is not present. The order was issued in response to a study of sixty-seven deadly force incidents involving Border Patrol agents. The study by the Police Executive Research Forum sharply criticized the Border Patrol for not appropriately investigating incidents involving use of force.
