Local non-profit network helping to launch border law enforcement abuse documentation project


September 22, 2012 6:45 PM


Jacqueline Armendariz

A project documenting law enforcement abuses already implemented in other U.S. border states is set to launch in the Rio Grande Valley, organizers said.

The RGV Equal Voice Network, a coalition of 10 community-based organizations in the region, has teamed up with the American Civil Liberties Union for the effort since May, Astrid Dominguez, border rights fellow with the RGV Equal Voice Network said.

The project was created by the ACLU in New Mexico and has extended to California, Arizona and a portion of Texas – El Paso.

“We know there’s abuse by CBP, Border Patrol and ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). This project was kind of launched because of that,” Dominguez said. “We want to have the data with us to kind of guide the community.”
In response to a request for comment, U.S. Customs and Border Protection released a statement through Border Patrol, citing the agency’s work in arresting more than 80,000 illegal immigrants, rescuing 300 people and the seizure of almost one million pounds of marijuana in the Valley.

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection takes every allegation or claim of misconduct against its employees very seriously,” the statement reads. “As guardians of our nation’s borders we protect the homeland and we do this with integrity and professionalism. Allegations of misconduct against CBP employees are thoroughly investigated and when deemed appropriate can result with criminal and or administrative actions being taken against our employees.”

Dominguez said the project includes U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents, immigrants and those who are in prison and the term ‘law enforcement’ encompasses local, state or federal authorities, she said. She is the liaison between the Equal Voice Network and the ACLU.

Dominguez said the ACLU is working with the network to spread the word about the project among their clients. The RGV Equal Voice Network states its primary areas of focus are immigration, education, jobs, health care, housing and civic engagement.

Project participants may also call the ACLU’s hotline to make a report.

“We know people here in the Valley; many of them are scared,” she said, referring to undocumented immigrants, or family members are scheduled for immigration hearings or they are afraid of retaliation.

In May, the ACLU sent a formal complaint it publicly released to the Department of Homeland Security asking for investigation into “abuse of power, excessive force, coercion and unlawful confiscation of property” by CBP at ports of entry on the border.
Among the incidents listed by the ACLU, four purportedly occurred at international bridges in Brownsville.

According to the document, In three different incidents said to have occurred at the B&M Bridge, officers are said to have “repeatedly coerced” U.S. citizens to state they were not born in the U.S. during “lengthy, abusive interrogations,” denying them entry and confiscating their documents. The three families involved have filed lawsuits in federal court.

The document said in another incident at the Brownsville Gateway Bridge, a U.S. teenager’s birth certificate was declared by “fraudulent” by a CBP officer and confiscated, so he was left without any identifying documents. The youth’s citizenship was later confirmed after court ruled two months after the incident that he be let into the country to prove his citizenship, the document states.

“All of the information is confidential,” she said of the project. “We don’t take any legal action at all.”
Dominguez said participants, who will be interviewed during the process, are also told about the option to file a formal complaint.

Dominguez said anecdotally, she’s heard of allegations of abuse concerning mostly federal authorities or local police.
Part of the importance of the project, she said, lies in discussing the abuses so they don’t happen again.
“Sometimes, they’re just used to it,” she said of communities where incidents may go unreported. “It’s very important for them to understand the importance of documenting, of speaking up,” Dominguez said of project participants. “If they don’t speak up these abuses won’t stop.”

Often, she said, when wrongdoing concerning law enforcement is revealed the behavior is attributed to only a single individual. Still, that can have lasting effects, she said.

“It’s that just one agent that causes so much pain sometimes with the family or in the community,” she said.
Local non-profit network helping to launch border law enforcement abuse documentation project | project, border, network - TheMonitor.com
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