Abuses
Berks Detention Center Employee Convicted of Sexual Assault of Young Honduran Mother
A judge in Pennsylvania this week sentenced Daniel Sharkey, a 41-year-old former counselor at the Berks County Residential Center, to six to twenty three months of jail time. Sharkey previously worked at the county-run detention center for children and their parents. His sentence came down after he pled guilty… Read More
Custom and Border Protection Use–of-Force Data Raises More Questions
Use-of-force by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel in Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 declined more than 26 percent compared with the previous year, according to statistics released last week by CBP. During FY 2015, which ended in September of last year, CBP reported 756 uses-of-force, down from the… Read More
Customs and Border Protection Releases Independent Review of Its Complaints System
As part of its announced efforts to become more transparent and accountable, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) just released the results of a review of its processes for handling allegations of employee misconduct. The review, which was conducted by an independent consulting firm and completed four months… Read More
National Wave of Complaints Highlights Rampant Abuse by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Dire Need for Reform
Washington, D.C. – Over the past week, an alliance of immigration groups, private attorneys and a law school clinic joined forces in filing complaints targeting abuses by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) across the country. Ten damages cases have been filed alleging unlawful CBP conduct in northern and southern… Read More
Indictment of Border Patrol Agent for Murder Provides Some Much-Needed Accountability
Justice was served on September 23, when a federal grand jury indicted Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz for the second-degree murder of 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez in Nogales, Mexico, in October of 2012. Rodríguez was shot at least eight times. Seven of the bullets hit him in… Read More
New Report Depicts Ongoing Abuses by Border Patrol
Deported migrants suffer a range of abuses at the hands of Custom and Border Patrol agents, according to a new Kino Border Initiative (KBI) report. The report relies on original surveys of Mexican migrants that were deported to Nogales, Mexico during the second half of 2014 and the first… Read More
Documenting Ongoing Border Patrol Abuses
Last month, following a five day trial, a United States district court ordered the United States to pay almost $500,000 to Jesus Castro Romo, for injuries he sustained after a U.S. Border Patrol agent shot him in the back. Mr. Castro had been walking through the desert when a Border… Read More
Report Documents Evidence of Migrant Shakedowns by Border Enforcement
Imagine what it would be like to be in a foreign country, and law enforcement officials take your phone, identification and money. Then, what if you are moved through a series of short-term holding cells and then longer term detention facilities and eventually released by being deported to another country… Read More
Reports of Sexual Abuse at Family Detention Center Follows History of Abuse Allegations
Immigrant women held at a Texas family detention facility allege that guards have sexually abused and harassed them, according to a complaint legal groups filed with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last week. Lawyers say at least three employees at the Karnes County center “are suspected of… Read More
Children in Jail: What It’s Like for Immigrant Families Held at Karnes, Texas
This summer, tens of thousands of Central American families fled violence to the U.S. southern border. The administration responded by accelerating deportation proceedings, converting government facilities to family detention centers, and then prioritizing the detention and removal of families. First, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) turned the Federal Law… Read More
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