8 Records of Alleged Abusive or Improper Conduct in May 2022

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

May, 2022

A June 16, 2022 report from Human Rights First included examples of three asylum-seeking families separated by CBP personnel at the U.S.-Mexico border during May 2022.

DHS separated a five-year-old Honduran boy from his adult sister and the sister’s children, who were expelled to Mexico under Title 42 in May 2022. The boy’s sister told Human Rights First that he was processed as an unaccompanied minor and is now in an Office of Refugee Resettlement shelter in South Carolina, while the sister and her children are stranded in danger in Ciudad Acuña unable to seek asylum.

DHS separated a Honduran father from his partner and child, expelling the man to Mexico under Title 42 in May 2022. The man told Human Rights First researchers that his partner and their child were permitted to remain in the United States to continue the asylum process while he is stuck in Ciudad Acuña.

In late May 2022, DHS separated an elderly Colombian woman from her adult daughter and sister and their children after the family sought protection in Laredo, Texas. The woman’s daughter, granddaughter, sister, and niece were released into Laredo to seek asylum. The woman’s sister told Human Rights First that nobody had heard from the woman in the five days since DHS released the family, and she fears her sister was expelled alone to Mexico under Title 42 or enrolled in the Remain in Mexico program.

— Julia Neusner, Kennji Kizuka, The Nightmare Continues: Title 42 Court Order Prolongs Human Rights Abuses, Extends Disorder at U.S. Borders (New York: Human Rights First, June 16, 2022) https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/nightmare-continues-title-42-court-order-prolongs-human-rights-abuses-extends-disorder-us.

Sector(s): Del Rio, Laredo

Agency(ies): CBP

Event Type(s): Family Separation

Last Known Accountability Status: Unknown

Victim Classification: Accompanied Child, Colombia, Family Unit, Female, Honduras

May 29, 2022

Biden Is Still Separating Immigrant Kids From Their Families,” read a November 21, 2022 headline from the Texas Observer. Reporters Anna-Catherine Brigida and John Washington recounted the experience of a Colombian lawyer and her family who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in late May 2022. The report used pseudonyms: Victoria, the lawyer, her husband Anton, and their 10-year-old son Felipe.

Several days into their detention:

on or about May 29—the exact date is unclear—Victoria and Felipe were taken to another room from which they could see, but not speak to, Anton. After some paperwork and an interview, an officer told Victoria that they were taking Felipe to have a snack.

“They opened the door, took him away, and then closed the door,” Victoria said. She had heard about family separations, but didn’t think the U.S. government was still taking kids away from their parents.

Victoria sensed something was amiss and began asking officials where her son was. “I don’t know,” immigration officials told her repeatedly. Almost six months later, she hasn’t seen him.

Felipe ended up treated as an unaccompanied minor, in the custody of the Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Border Patrol and CBP apparently made no record of the relationship between parents and child: “It took a month for the ORR to even realize that Felipe still had parents from Colombia who were being detained in the United States,” and that was because Felipe himself explained what happened.

“There was confusion that ORR thought he was found alone in Mexico,” said Daniela Velez, an attorney with NIJC [the National Immigrant Justice Center, which took the family’s case]. “This is such a big deal. This is Felipe being taken away from his parents and no one can explain why or how.” The government has yet to be able to tell her why they separated the parents.

“Since late May,” the report continued, “Felipe has been living in an ORR shelter in Chicago while his parents and uncle remain in U.S. Marshals’ custody in a privately run Texas prison” for the crime of illegal entry into the United States. “Since they were first able to speak by phone in June, Felipe’s parents have only been permitted 15-minute phone calls once a week.”

HHS data show that 102 migrant children were separated from parents during fiscal year 2022. (Original link)

— 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/>.

— “Monthly Report to Congress on Separated Children.” Washington: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2022. <https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/september-2022-monthly-report-on-separated-children.pdf>.

Sector(s): Border-Wide

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Family Separation

Last Known Accountability Status: Unknown

Victim Classification: Accompanied Child, Colombia, Family Unit

May 24, 2022

Activist Scott Nicol reported finding five COVID vaccination cards and other personal possessions in a trash pile beside a table Border Patrol agents use to process asylum-seeking migrants alongside the border wall in Hidalgo, Texas. The items, discarded by agents, were the personal belongings of asylum-seeking migrants who regularly turn themselves in at this site.

— ”Scott Nicol @Scott_NicolTX on Twitter” (United States, Twitter, May 24, 2022) https://twitter.com/Scott_NicolTX/status/1529247504717471745.

Sector(s): Rio Grande Valley

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Confiscation of Documents, Non-Return of Belongings

Last Known Accountability Status: Unknown

Victim Classification:

May 24, 2022

In circumstances that remain to be clarified, an unnamed Border Patrol agent killed a Mexican migrant in Douglas, Arizona after midnight (original link). Abigail Roman Aguilar, 32, from Chiapas, Mexico, died of stab wounds to the upper chest (“sharp force injuries of the trunk”), according to the Pima County Medical Examiner, which ruled the death a homicide on June 17, 2022. The Medical Examiner’s report also noted blunt force injuries to Aguilar’s head, trunk, and extremities (original link).

The Arizona Daily Star reported on June 18:

On May 24, Aguilar was admitted to the Copper Queen Community Hospital in Douglas with face and lip injuries following a barb wire incident while running from the United States Border Patrol, the autopsy report said. After he was discharged from the hospital, he was reportedly involved in an altercation with a Border Patrol agent, who ultimately stabbed Aguilar with a knife.

The May 24 incident is under FBI investigation, and being reviewed by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility, after which it is to go to CBP’s National Use of Force Review Board. In an e-mail to the Arizona Republic, a spokesperson for the FBI Phoenix office said only that its investigation into an “assault on a federal officer” was ongoing.

This is the second agent-involved killing near Douglas since February 19, when Agent Kendrek Bybee Staheli shot and killed Mexican migrant Carmelo Cruz-Marcos.

— “Statement-Use of Force Incident-Douglas, AZ” (Tucson: Customs and Border Protection, May 24, 2022) https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/speeches-and-statements/statement-use-force-incident-douglas-az.

— Clara Migoya, “1 dead in Douglas after ‘use of force’ confrontation with Border Patrol” (Arizona: Arizona Republic, May 25, 2022) https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/border-issues/2022/05/25/1-dead-douglas-after-confrontation-border-patrol-agent/9926410002/.

— Jamie Donnelly, “Report: Migrant stabbed to death by Border Patrol agent in Douglas” (Tucson: Arizona Daily Star, June 18, 2022) https://tucson.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/report-migrant-stabbed-to-death-by-border-patrol-agent-in-douglas/article_dcf55a68-ef32-11ec-b15a-17f8ed410de1.html.

— Mary Coleman, Tweet from Mary Coleman KOLD @Mary_reports (Twitter, June 17, 2022) https://twitter.com/Mary_reports/status/1537902526128721927.

— Gloria Rebecca Gomez, Angela Cordoba Perez, Clara Migoya, “Autopsy report determines migrant was stabbed to death by CBP agent in Douglas” (Phoenix: Arizona Republic, June 22, 2022) https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/06/22/autopsy-report-migrant-stabbed-death-cbp-agent-douglas/7684477001/.

Sector(s): Tucson

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Use of Force

Last Known Accountability Status: Under FBI Investigation, Under OPR Investigation

Victim Classification: Mexico, Single Adult

May 14, 2022

Two CBP officers fired gunshots at a vehicle during a southbound traffic inspection at the Bridge of the Americas port of entry in El Paso, Texas.

“While attempting to inspect a vehicle, a driver made an abrupt movement, at which point the officers perceived a threat to themselves and fired at the driver who fled from the inspection area at a high rate of speed and crossed into Mexico,” a CBP spokesperson e-mailed the El Paso Times.

Mexican authorities later found the vehicle in Ciudad Juárez. The incident is under investigation by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility.

— Daniel Borunda, “CBP officers in El Paso fire at vehicle in border shooting on the Bridge of the Americas” (El Paso: El Paso Times, May 15, 2022) https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/crime/2022/05/15/el-paso-shooting-bridge-americas-cbp-border-mexico/9785893002/.

Sector(s): El Paso Field Office

Agency(ies): Office of Field Operations

Event Type(s): Use of Force

Last Known Accountability Status: Under OPR Investigation

Victim Classification:

May 13, 2022

A Los Angeles Times investigation found that Border Patrol and local law enforcement agencies in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas, are working at times alongside “Patriots for America,” an armed conservative Christian citizen militia that the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas accuses of espousing White supremacist beliefs.

A Times reporter witnessed militia members intercepting and interviewing migrant children in the field as Border Patrol agents look on.

— Molly Hennessy-Fiske, “Border militia stops migrants and shoots video of kids. Rights groups say they’re racist” (Eagle Pass: Los Angeles Times, May 13, 2022) https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-05-13/texas-border-militia.

Sector(s): Del Rio

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Vigilantism Tolerance or Collaboration

Last Known Accountability Status: Unknown

Victim Classification: Unaccompanied Child

May 3, 2022

Activist Scott Nicol reported finding a Nicaraguan birth certificate, a cell phone, and a child’s stuffed animal beside the border wall in Hidalgo, Texas. The items, discarded by Border Patrol agents, were the personal belongings of asylum-seeking migrants who regularly turn themselves in at this site.

That day, the Border Chronicle featured Nicol’s documentation of items he has recovered near the wall in south Texas. “What really got to me were the x-rays I found. They were for a six-year-old boy, and it showed a steel rod in his spine. It was obviously for an asylum claim. Why would anyone part with those?”

— ”Scott Nicol @Scott_NicolTX on Twitter” (United States, Twitter, May 3, 2022) https://twitter.com/scott_nicoltx/status/1521488561165504513.

— Melissa del Bosque, “The Things They Carried: Is the Border Patrol discarding asylum seekers’ documents?” (United States: The Border Chronicle, May 3, 2022) https://www.theborderchronicle.com/p/the-things-they-carried-is-the-border.

Sector(s): Rio Grande Valley

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Confiscation of Documents, Non-Return of Belongings

Last Known Accountability Status: Unknown

Victim Classification: Nicaragua

May 2, 2022

A brief May 9 statement from CBP noted the arrest of a Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agent “on a warrant stemming from an indictment on a charge of Official Oppression in connection with the alleged assault and mistreatment of a juvenile in custody.” (original link) No further details appeared.

— “CBP Statement on Arrest of Del Rio Sector Border Patrol Agent” (Washington: Customs and Border Protection, May 6, 2022) https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/speeches-and-statements/cbp-statement-arrest-del-rio-sector-border-patrol-agent.

Sector(s): Del Rio

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Abuse of Minor, Conditions in Custody, Use of Force

Last Known Accountability Status: Criminal Charges Pending

Victim Classification: