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Border Oversight: Monitoring Conduct and Accountability in U.S. Border Law Enforcement
April 28, 2022
A new database of incidents of abuse at the Mexico border paints a harrowing picture of the U.S.’s dysfunctional border security system and the “toxic culture” driving the law enforcement agencies tasked with implementing it.
The database, borderoversight.org [[link removed]] , developed by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), brings together more than 200 examples of alleged human rights abuses, along with nearly 300 reports from official government sources, NGOs, and media since 2020. Abuses at the hands of Border Patrol agents include misuse of lethal force, racial profiling and even abuses within the workforce. The database is a living document that will continuously be updated to reflect the most current information.
Many reported abuses go uninvestigated, or investigations are slow and timid. Punishments are rare, which likely contributes to troubling behavior patterns.
Some examples of database entries include:
*
Fatal
use-of-force
incidents
that
to
our
knowledge
remain
unresolved,
in
Douglas
[[link removed]]
and
Nogales
[[link removed]]
,
Arizona;
Campo
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,
Calexico
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,
and
San
Ysidro
[[link removed]]
,
California;
and
Eagle
Pass,
[[link removed]]
Hidalgo
[[link removed]]
,
and
Laredo
[[link removed]]
,
Texas.
*
Data
compiled
by
the
American
Civil
Liberties
Union
and
reproduced
[[link removed]]
by
the
New
York
Times
showing
that
21
people
died
in
vehicle
collisions
in
2021
after
Border
Patrol
agents
pursued
them
at
high
speed.
That
was
up
from
14
in
2020
and
an
average
of
3.5
per
year
from
2010
to
2019.
*
Also,
examples
[[link removed]]
of
agents
telling
asylum
seekers
that
they
are
being
transported
to
be
processed
for
asylum
and
reunited
with
relatives
in
the
United
States,
when
in
fact
they
were
expelling
them
into
Mexico
or
flown
back
to
Haiti.
*
In
response
to
reports,
CBP’s
Office
of
Professional
Responsibility
(OPR)
opened
[[link removed]]
516
investigations
into
use
of
force
incidents
in
2020,
17
of
them
for
use
of
deadly
force.
Of
the
few
use-of-force
cases
closed
with
a
disciplinary
outcome,
one
resulted
in
a
removal,
two
in
reprimands,
and
five
with
counseling.
WOLA’s Border Oversight Database will be regularly updated on borderoversight.org [borderoversight.org]
WOLA offers an analysis on this topic in our latest commentary with Director for Defense Oversight, Adam Isacson.
READ THE COMMENTARY
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