The Border Patrol's Culture of Cruelty

      The No More Deaths organization released a report on Border Patrol abuses on September 21.  Seven members of the coalition attempted to deliver the report to the headquarters of the Tucson sector of the Border Patrol but were not allowed on the grounds.  An agent said they couldn’t come in because of concerns about “the safety of detainees.”

     The Presbyterian minister, doctor, nurse, two social workers and two human rights lawyers were stopped at the gate by several armed Border Patrol agents.  I was accompanying the group to photograph the event.  A Border Patrol agent was videoing us as we arrived and a woman in civilian clothes was also taking photos of us.  Tucson police cars began arriving near the gate and there were eventually five patrol cars and two unmarked police cars.

     Agent Easterling came out through the gate to receive the report.  The seven spokespersons each talked about a different area of concern.  John Fife, pastor emeritus of Southside Presbyterian Church, said “The word doesn’t appear in the report but the word that I would use to describe this is sin.” 

     Norma Price is a doctor that volunteers with the Samaritans organization to provide medical care for migrants in distress in the desert.  She used the word “malpractice” to describe the Border Patrol’s denial of medical treatment for migrants who are ill or have been injured.

     Sarah Roberts is a nurse and co-founder of No More Deaths.  She carried a gallon of water and expressed her concern about the Border Patrol’s failure to provide adequate water, or any water in many cases, to migrants apprehended in the desert.

     The report is entitled “A Culture of Cruelty: Abuse and Impunity in Short-Term U.S. Border Patrol Custody” and is available at http://www.cultureofcruelty.org/  More than 4,000 interviews were carried out with migrants who had been deported in Naco, Nogales and Agua Prieta, Sonora.  “Human rights abuses of individuals in short-term U.S. Border Patrol custody are systemic and widespread” concludes the report.

     A Culture of Cruelty documents widespread incidents of the failure to provide water or adequate water; failure to provide food or adequate food; denial of medical treatment; inhumane processing center conditions; verbal, physical and psychological abuse; separation of family members; failure to return personal belongings; and due process concerns.  The Border Patrol issued a statement to the media that day saying “Mistreatment or agent misconduct will not be tolerated in any way.”

     The report also documents dangerous deportation practices including “lateral repatriation” of unauthorized migrants.  The Alien Transfer and Exit Program deports people through a different port of entry than the one nearest to where they crossed into the U.S.  Someone who crossed the border into Arizona could be sent back to Mexico through California or Texas.  Migrants usually have very little or no money when they’re deported and dropping them off in an unfamiliar city puts them at risk.

     Another dangerous practice is to deport people late at night in cities with problems of violence.  I visited the San Juan Bosco migrant shelter in Nogales on September 24.  One of the volunteers there told us a group of deported migrants arrived at 1:30 that morning and another group at 2:30.  That’s an obvious example of abuse that is tolerated and routinely practiced by the Border Patrol.    

     Photos of agent receiving report, agent with video camera, and police presence: