Thread: ACLU alleges Border Patrol looting deported immigrants

AP April 6, 2016, 12:08 PM

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico- Advocacy groups are alleging that U.S. Border Patrol agents are looting immigrants of possessions before deporting them to Mexico without their IDs or money.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and a coalition of organizations filed the administrative complaint with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday.

The complaint says immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally were deported without their belongings in 26 cases. Advocates say immigrants were deported to cities in Mexico where they have no acquaintances.

DHS spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said in a statement that the department has a policy of safeguarding detainees' property.

"DHS will review the complaint once we receive it. DHS has strict standards in place to ensure that detainees' personal property - including funds, baggage and other effects - is safeguarded and controlled while they are in detention and returned to them when they are released from CBP/ICE custody or removed from the United States. Any allegation of missing property will be thoroughly investigated," Christensen said.

In one case, U.S. Border Patrol agents detained a 23-year-old man from Chihuahua, Mexico, on a road in New Mexico in February 2015 and forced him to sign a form abandoning his rights to his belongings, the complaint says.

The man did not understand the contents of the form, and the agents never advised him of his right to reclaim his belongings, according to the complaint.

The complaint also says border patrol agents seized nearly $400 from a 23-year-old woman from Guerrero after she was detained near an international bridge in Texas. Advocates say the money, which was part of the woman's life savings, was never returned.

"They are really eroding the rule of law at the border," ACLU of New Mexico attorney Kristin Greer Love said. "They are putting people at great vulnerability.

ACLU alleges Border Patrol looting deported immigrants - CBS News

"They are really eroding the rule of law at the border," ACLU of New Mexico attorney Kristin Greer Love said. "They are putting people at great vulnerability.

The only people eroding the rule of law at the border are the illegal aliens entering our country in violation of the rule of law.

DHS spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said in a statement that the department has a policy of safeguarding detainees' property.

"DHS will review the complaint once we receive it. DHS has strict standards in place to ensure that detainees' personal property - including funds, baggage and other effects - is safeguarded and controlled while they are in detention and returned to them when they are released from CBP/ICE custody or removed from the United States. Any allegation of missing property will be thoroughly investigated," Christensen said.

Oh geez, you mean we have to pay people to keep track of their personal belongings and build or pay for secured areas to store their crap? Oh puleeze. No, you enter the US illegally, prepare to lose all your money and belongings you brought with you. Period.

Border Agents Are Finally Using Less Force Against Immigrants

BY ESTHER YU-HSI LEE APR 8, 2016 12:05 PM

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency reported a 26 percent decline in using some type of force against border crossers last year — a statistic that suggests border agents may be getting better at interacting with migrants as the agency has been plagued with criticism for its lackof transparency.

The agency reported 756 uses of force in the 2015 fiscal year, a sharp drop from 1,037 in the previous year. According to a CBP press release, “this reduction is especially significant” because agents say there hasn’t been a decline in the number of assaults against them.

The incidents were classified as either “firearm,” “less-lethal device,” or “other less lethal force,” with a CBP agent’s use of devices like a baton or an electronic control weapon defined as “less-lethal.”

U.S. border agents fired their weapons 23 times in the 2015 fiscal year, with agents in California’s San Diego sector firing their weapons six times. Despite its 420-mile, barren landscape, agents manning Texas’ Big Bend sector fired their weapons five times in the same time period.

This is the first time that the CBP broke down its use of force data among its 18 sectors. The agency previously only provided the total number of reported incidents.

The overall decline in the number of use of force incidents is promising given CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske's goal of greater transparency, which prompted the agency to release updated guidelines for using force in 2014.

Still, advocates have criticized the agency for continuing to hold off on giving agents body-worn cameras to track the way they're interacting with border crossers. CBP says that more studies need to be done before camera technology can be effectively deployed in the field.

"We commend Commissioner Kerlikowske's decision to release statistics on use-of-force incidents," Christian Ramirez, the director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition and Human Rights Director at Alliance San Diego, said in a press statement. "It is a step towards greater transparency for CBP. However, meaningful transparency in the form of body-worn cameras must be implemented and accompanied with robust accountability mechanisms in order to address the culture of impunity that has plagued CBP."

Despite the decline, there is little relief for families of migrants killed during encounters with border agents. For instance, Anastasio Hernández Rojas, an undocumented Mexican national, died six years ago after border agents surrounded and beat him as he was handcuffed and laying face down. The Department of Justice (DOJ) said last year that it would not pursue federal criminal civil rights or other federal charges against the federal agents involved in the in-custody altercation, citing “insufficient” evidence.

Border Agents Are Finally Using Less Force Against Immigrants | ThinkProgress

Treatment of immigrants in Mexico much worse than any other country