8 Records of Alleged Abusive or Improper Conduct where the last known accountability status is “Unknown” in April 2021

Examples of abuses or other behaviors indicating need for reform at U.S. border and migration institutions (RSS feed)

Late April, 2021

The Kino Border Initiative reported:

A Guatemalan father who had been expelled from the US four months ago was selling food in the street with his family one day when an armed man arrived and killed him in front of his wife and seven-year-old daughter. His wife and daughter fled their hometown to seek protection in the US and crossed between ports of entry to assert their asylum claim. The woman carried her husband’s death certificate and showed it to Border Patrol agents, who accused them of purchasing the document at a pharmacy and refused to hear their fear claim.

— “April 29 Update From KBI” (Nogales: Kino Border Initiative, April 29, 2021).

Sector(s): Tucson

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Denial of Protection to Most Vulnerable

Last Known Accountability Status: Shared with Congressional Oversight Committees, Unknown

Victim Classification: Family Unit, Guatemala

Late April, 2021

The Kino Border Initiative reported:

This week a Honduran family of 3 was expelled to Nogales, Sonora at 8PM, when it was already dark. A Mexican police officer allowed them to come into their office and eat some food, and then advised that they walk to the shelter in the dark, which is about a two mile walk. As they walked, a police vehicle stopped them and offered them a ride, expressing their concern that a migrant family would walk through such a dangerous area at night.

— “April 29 Update From KBI” (Nogales: Kino Border Initiative, April 29, 2021).

Sector(s): Tucson

Agency(ies): CBP

Event Type(s): Dangerous Deportation

Last Known Accountability Status: Shared with Congressional Oversight Committees, Unknown

Victim Classification: Family Unit, Honduras

Late April, 2021

The Kino Border Initiative reported:

A young Mexican man expelled under Title 42 this week reported to KBI that Border Patrol agents left them in downtown Nogales, Sonora around 2:30AM. The group was afraid to walk through town at night, so they waited outside by the port of entry without any protection from organized crime groups, which are known to patrol this area, for 4 hours until the sun came up.

— “April 29 Update From KBI” (Nogales: Kino Border Initiative, April 29, 2021).

Sector(s): Tucson

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Dangerous Deportation

Last Known Accountability Status: Shared with Congressional Oversight Committees, Unknown

Victim Classification: Mexico, Single Adult

April 27, 2021

The Kino Border Initiative reported:

A Honduran traveling with his two small children was expelled Tuesday morning to Nogales, Sonora at 3AM. The family did not have the money to pay a taxi to transport them to the shelter, so they stayed in the Mexican police office until it was light enough for them to feel safe to walk to KBI.

— “April 29 Update From KBI” (Nogales: Kino Border Initiative, April 29, 2021).

Sector(s): Tucson

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Dangerous Deportation

Last Known Accountability Status: Shared with Congressional Oversight Committees, Unknown

Victim Classification: Family Unit, Honduras

April 23, 2021

A November 21, 2022 report from the Texas Observer recounted Border Patrol agents’ separation of Raquel Andrade, a citizen of Honduras, from her 8-year-old grandson Joseph Mejía in Hidalgo, Texas. Joseph “had lived with his grandmother in San Pedro Sula since the murder of both his parents when he was an infant.”

Andrade did not receive the warm welcome she had imagined for her grandson, who calls her “mom.” Instead, she said Border Patrol agents accused her of “stealing” Joseph.

Andrade presented birth certificates to prove her relationship with her grandson, death certificates and media reports to document his parents’ murder, and school documents showing that she is his guardian. But the Border Patrol agent didn’t care, she said.

“They told me that the child was staying with them, and I said, ‘No, you have to deport me with him,’” she recalled. “He started to cry, and he hugged me, but they practically took him from me by force.”

After desperately begging officials to keep her and Joseph together, she realized her pleas were being ignored. So she turned to Joseph and prayed for the best.

“Papi, in the name of Jesus, nothing bad is going to happen to you,” she told him.

Andrade was sent to Mexico. Days later, she was back in Honduras. She didn’t know where Joseph was.

Joseph spent three months in an ORR shelter before opting to return to Honduras. During his time in custody, communication with his grandmother in Honduras “was sparse. They would usually talk on the phone once every eight days. But, Andrade recalled, when Joseph didn’t do his chores, like making his bed, sometimes officials would punish him by not allowing him to call his grandmother.”

— Brigida, Anna-Catherine, and John Washington. “Biden Is Still Separating Immigrant Kids From Their Families.” The Texas Observer, November 21, 2022. <https://www.texasobserver.org/the-biden-administration-is-still-separating-kids-from-their-families/>.

Sector(s): Rio Grande Valley

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Family Separation

Last Known Accountability Status: Unknown

Victim Classification: Accompanied Child, Family Unit, Honduras

Early April, 2021

The Kino Border Initiative reported Border Patrol’s expulsion to Mexico of a Guatemalan asylum seeker despite his claims of fear of return, and his claims to have suffered abduction and assault while in Arizona:

A Guatemalan man who entered the US to seek asylum earlier this month got lost while walking in the desert. As he and the man he was traveling with tried to find their way in the desert in southern Arizona, a group of three armed men dressed in black began firing shots at them. The armed men threw the men to the ground, tied their hands, covered their eyes with blindfolds, and took them to a house where they beat him, took his clothes off, tied him up, and left him outside for an entire day and night. The following day, the kidnappers left him on the side of the road, where he sought help and eventually laid down to await Border Patrol agents. The man attempted to assert his fear of traffickers in Mexico with Border Patrol Agents at the field station and later at the processing center in Tucson, but all officials with whom he spoke ignored his fear-based claims. BP agents returned him to Nogales, Mexico, where he is at risk of further attack by his traffickers.

— “April 15 Update From KBI” (Nogales: Kino Border Initiative, April 15, 2021).

Sector(s): Tucson

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Denial of Protection to Most Vulnerable

Last Known Accountability Status: Shared with Congressional Oversight Committees, Unknown

Victim Classification: Guatemala, Kidnap Victim, Single Adult

Early April, 2021

The Kino Border Initiative reported: “A young Guatemalan man expelled to Nogales, Sonora under Title 42 last week reported that Border Patrol agents threatened to run him over with their four wheeler. They also intimidated him and said things like, ‘Why are you even here?'”

— “April 15 Update From KBI” (Nogales: Kino Border Initiative, April 15, 2021).

Sector(s): Tucson

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Abusive Language, Threat of Violence

Last Known Accountability Status: Shared with Congressional Oversight Committees, Unknown

Victim Classification: Guatemala, Single Adult

Early April, 2021

The Kino Border Initiative reported:

Another young Guatemalan migrant reported that before Border Patrol agents expelled him to Nogales, Sonora, they threw away all the water and supplies they had brought with them. The BP agents took the apples the group brought for food and fed them to their horses. When they asked for water since they had walked days in the desert, the BP agents refused until several hours later.

— “April 15 Update From KBI” (Nogales: Kino Border Initiative, April 15, 2021).

Sector(s): Tucson

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Denial of Food or Water, Non-Return of Belongings

Last Known Accountability Status: Shared with Congressional Oversight Committees, Unknown

Victim Classification: Guatemala, Single Adult