Border Patrol
Accountability Continues to Elude the Border Patrol
A startling number of media accounts continue to demonstrate that the Border Patrol is an agency which is unable to control many of its agents and shows little willingness to provide accountability for its actions. Its agents frequently use force—sometimes deadly force—against people who do not represent a serious threat. Read More
Report: CBP Must Implement Body-Worn Cameras
Since the incidents in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014, the use of body-worn cameras has been steadily on the rise. It was a major focus of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which was established to “provide meaningful solutions to help law enforcement agencies and communities strengthen… Read More
CBP Releases Use of Force Breakdown: Unclear What It Means
Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released a yearly report on the number of use of force incidents. The report stated that use of force incidents by officers and agents were down 26 percent from the previous year, from 1,037 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 to 768… 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
Border Patrol Criminally Prosecuting Asylum Seekers, Government Report Finds
For years, the Border Patrol program “Operation Streamline” has criminally prosecuted asylum seekers in a terribly misguided effort to discourage them from reentering illegally again. A recent U.S. government report from DHS’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) said this practice may “violate U.S. treaty obligations.” Specifically, according to the… Read More
Immigrants Kept for Days in Border Patrol’s Bedless Holding Cells
Every day, over a thousand individuals are held in Border Patrol detention facilities near the U.S. southern border. These facilities are notorious for freezing cold temperatures, overcrowded conditions and lack of any bedding or beds. In addition, they routinely lack adequate food, water, and medical care. The reality is… Read More
Reports: Detention Doesn’t Deter Migrants and Refugees From Coming to United States
In 2009, the Obama Administration ended family detention at the infamous T. Don Hutto jail in Texas and cut the number of immigrants in family detention to less than a hundred. However, after the surge of Central American migrants last summer, the Administration reinstituted the appalling practice of family… Read More
After Earthquake in Nepal, Bill Introduced to Grant Temporary Protected Status to Nepalese Nationals
One form of humanitarian assistance the United States can offer to Nepal, a country now recovering from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that flattened buildings and killed more than 7,000 people, is temporary protected status (TPS) for Nepalese nationals who currently are in the United States. Last week, several members… Read More
No Justice For Family of Mexican Child Killed By U.S. Border Patrol Agent
On June 7, 2010, Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, a fifteen-year-old Mexican national, was playing with a group of friends on the Mexican side of the border near the Paso del Norte Bridge in El Paso, Texas. The boy and his friends were playing a game in which they ran up… Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
