24 Records of Alleged Abusive or Improper Conduct where the victim classification is “El Salvador”

Late July, 2022

The Nogales, Arizona-based Kino Border Initiative (KBI) reported on August 4 that “Walter [name changed to protect privacy], a gay man from El Salvador, recently arrived at Kino after surviving an attempted murder in his country.”

On his journey, the coyote abandoned him in the desert, where he wandered alone until he was able to find BP and present himself to seek asylum. Despite explaining his situation, showing the scars from the murder attempt and explaining that he would be killed if he had to return to El Salvador, BP [Border Patrol] expelled him to Mexico.

— “August 4 update from KBI” (Nogales: Kino Border Initiative, August 4, 2022).

Sector(s): Tucson

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

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

Last Known Accountability Status: Unknown

Victim Classification: El Salvador, LGBTQ, Single Adult

July 28, 2022

The Dallas Morning News reported that Border Patrol agents appeared to be fabricating information on asylum seekers’ entry paperwork. It cited an egregious case, in the Rio Grande Valley sector, of a two-year-old toddler whose form read that he told agents he intended to travel to Dallas “to seek employment” and did not fear being returned to El Salvador.

Falsifying information on intake forms can mean swift deportation for protection-seeking migrants subject to the expedited removal process. “Immigration attorneys say instances like this aren’t uncommon and are part of a wave of expedited removals,” the Morning News reported.

— Dianne Solis, “Border agents deny entry to migrants based on interviews lawyers say are fiction” (Dallas: Dallas Morning News, July 28, 2022) https://www.dallasnews.com/news/immigration/2022/07/28/border-agents-deny-entry-to-migrants-based-on-interviews-lawyers-say-are-fiction/.

Sector(s): Rio Grande Valley

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Compelling Signature of English-Language Documents, Falsification or Negligent Handling of Asylum Paperwork

Last Known Accountability Status: Unknown

Victim Classification: Accompanied Child, El Salvador

June 16, 2022

On May 23, 2022, a District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals ruling went into effect prohibiting CBP personnel from using Title 42 to expel asylum-seeking families to places where they will be persecuted or tortured (original link). A June 16, 2022 report from Human Rights First, however, found examples of families who, “when they tried to express their fears of return, Border Patrol agents ignored their statements or refused to allow them to speak and failed to refer any for screening”:

Four asylum-seeking families, who were expelled under Title 42 to Ciudad Acuña on May 23, 2022, reported to Human Rights First researchers that Border Patrol agents refused to allow them to explain their fear of return to Mexico or their countries of origin and did not refer them for a fear screening before expelling them.

None of the approximately 50 Honduran and Salvadoran asylum-seeking families, who were interviewed by researchers from the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS), had received a fear screening prior to being expelled to Reynosa in late May and early June 2022. According to CGRS’s Legal Director, Blaine Bookey, many families reported that when they attempted to explain their fear of return, Border Patrol officers said, for example, that asylum was not available and that they would only be taking fingerprints and photographs and ordered the families to stop attempting to communicate with the officers. Other families expressed that given harsh treatment and verbal abuse from Border Patrol agents, they were too afraid to even attempt to explain their fears of return. One family reported to Bookey that Border Patrol agents called them “invaders,” and other families reported the agents told them that if they were afraid to return to their country, they should arm themselves and fight the gangs.

— 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, San Diego

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

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

Last Known Accountability Status: Unknown

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Family Unit, Honduras

February, 2022

Human Rights Watch reported on CBP’s Title 42 expulsion of Adolfo H. and Gerardo C. (pseudonyms), a gay couple fleeing Cuba and El Salvador who had already “experienced extortion several times by Mexican immigration agents.”

US officials told the couple that Adolfo could stay and seek asylum in the United States because he is from Cuba but that his partner would be expelled, even though border officials had the authority to allow both men in. Instead, they gave them the option of being separated or of being expelled together. They said that while they were in custody, US officials told them to stop holding hands or touching one another.

CBP officers expelled both men back to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

US: LGBT Asylum Seekers in Danger at the Border (New York: Human Rights Watch, May 31, 2022) https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/05/31/us-lgbt-asylum-seekers-danger-border.

Sector(s): El Paso Field Office

Agency(ies): Office of Field Operations

Event Type(s): Denial of Protection to Most Vulnerable, LGBT Discrimination or Harassment

Last Known Accountability Status: Unknown

Victim Classification: Cuba, El Salvador, LGBTQ

February 14, 2022

The August 16, 2022 San Diego Union-Tribune recounted the story of “Lucy” (real name withheld), a Salvadoran mother who crossed the eastern California border with her children. According to her attorney, Lucy was fleeing death threats.

She claimed that a Border Patrol agent beat her during her apprehension, that she was denied medical attention, and that agents separate her from her 10-year-old daughter.

They were with a group of other migrants resting along a train line in Calipatria — a city about 35 miles north of Calexico — on Feb. 14 when Border Patrol agents found them.

Lucy said she went to wake up her 18-year-old son Anner as the other migrants fled. A Border Patrol agent caught her and began beating her, she said.

“The truth is I thought he was going to kill me because he had hit me so much,” she told the Union-Tribune.

Her children watched in horror and begged another agent to get him to stop, she said, but the other agent said that he couldn’t because of who the agent attacking her was.

Lucy, who is less than 5 feet tall, attempted to free herself from the agent to save herself, she said. Anner threw a couple of rocks near the agent to try to get him to stop.

The agent did stop, and Lucy escaped to where the other agent was standing with her children, she said.

They were taken to a Border Patrol station, and though Lucy was bleeding from the head and lip and already quite bruised, she did not receive medical attention, she said.

She recalled the agents bullying her and laughing at her.

She was placed in a holding area with her daughter, but soon agents came to take Lucy away. It would be more than a month before she even had an idea of where her daughter ended up.

“They didn’t even give me a chance to say goodbye,” Lucy said. “They took me out and handcuffed me.”

She was taken to a federal facility in Arizona to wait because she was being charged with assaulting and intimidating the agent that she says attacked her, a felony. Anner was charged with a misdemeanor and held in another facility.

The FBI agent who investigated the incident noted in a court filing that Anner told him that the Border Patrol agent was punching his mother.

In May, the U.S. Attorney’s Office asked the judge to dismiss the charges, and the case was dropped.

— Kate Morrissey, “Family Separations at the Border Continue Under Biden” (San Diego: The San Diego Union-Tribune, August 17, 2022) https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigration/story/2022-08-16/family-separations-at-the-border-continue-under-biden.

Sector(s): El Centro

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Conditions in Custody, Conditions of Arrest or Apprehension, Denial of Medical Care, Family Separation, Use of Force

Last Known Accountability Status: Unknown

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Family Unit

January 13, 2022

A January 2022 Human Rights First report discussed CBP’s denial of humanitarian parole requests for highly vulnerable migrants at the San Ysidro Port of Entry between San Diego and Tijuana.

CBP has denied or ignored more than 100 of the 147 humanitarian parole requests Al Otro Lado submitted to the San Ysidro port of entry, according to attorney Ginger Cline. People denied parole by CBP at the San Ysidro port of entry since December 2021 include: a Salvadoran woman with epilepsy who was kidnapped, drugged, and beaten in Mexico; a Haitian man who experienced two racially motivated assaults in Tijuana; a Mexican woman fleeing cartel threats and severe domestic violence whose 9-year-old child was sexually abused; a Haitian man with painful growths on his chest who was sexually assaulted by his employer and who has been unable to access medical treatment in Tijuana; and a LGBTQ Haitian person who was assaulted in Mexico.

Yet, at other U.S. ports of entry, including Brownsville and Hidalgo, CBP officers have approved hundreds of humanitarian parole requests since late 2021, according to Charlene D’Cruz with Lawyers for Good Government.

A Shameful Record: Biden Administration’s Use of Trump Policies Endangers People Seeking Asylum (New York: Human Rights First: January 13, 2022) https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/shameful-record-biden-administration-s-use-trump-policies-endangers-people-seeking-asylum.

Sector(s): San Diego Field Office

Agency(ies): CBP

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

Last Known Accountability Status: Unknown

Victim Classification: Black, Disability, Domestic or Gender-Based Violence Victim, El Salvador, Family Unit, Haiti, Kidnap Victim, LGBTQ, Mexico, Sexual Abuse Victim

2021, all year

Four children’s defense organizations filed complaints in a California district court after hearing unaccompanied migrant children narrate abuse and poor treatment while in short-term CBP custody during 2021 (original link). The complaints were filed on April 11, 2022 and shared by VICE News on May 2, 2022.

During 2021, attorneys from the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) provided Know Your Rights presentations and conducted legal screenings for at least 2,356 unaccompanied children exiting CBP custody. “During these legal screenings,” reads ImmDef’s complaint, “staff asked children to describe their experience being processed through the U.S. immigration system, with a focus on the conditions in CBP custody.”

ImmDef’s complaint cites the following examples of CBP personnel using abusive language with children:

  • In the hielera, CBP officers insulted P.A.M. [a sixteen-year-old child from Mexico] and other children, called them animals, and shut doors in their faces.
  • R.M.M. [a seventeen-year-old child from Guatemala] received medication for three days, but his later requests for medical attention were outright denied. Instead, CBP officers yelled at him and called him names.
  • G.G.G. [a seventeen-year-old child from Guatemala] witnessed CBP officers yell at other kids who did not get up right away at five o’clock in the morning for roll call or who did not immediately obey the commands of CBP officers.
  • CBP officers yelled at E.C.C. [a thirteen-year-old child] in both English and Spanish, including waking him and other children by yelling, “Levantense cabrones.” [26]
  • CBP officers called him [D.C.E., a 16-year-old,] a “gangster,” and threatened his aunt.
  • When M.J.C. [a 14-year-old] was first apprehended by CBP, she was handcuffed for approximately twenty-four hours without any food or water. Alone, exhausted from her journey, and afraid for her life, she was forced to sit on the side of the road as CBP officers yelled at her in English, which she did not understand. M.J.C. was cold and wet when she finally arrived at the hielera, but rather than give her warm clothes, CBP officers berated M.J.C., saying that “she should’ve thought about that before coming to the U.S.”
  • M.G.G. is a seventeen-year-old child who arrived in the United States from El Salvador and experienced egregious abuse at the hands of CBP officers. When M.G.G. was apprehended, she was verbally harassed. She reported hearing CBP officers refer to her and other children and families as “motherfuckers” in English, pendejos, and hijos de puta. [37]
  • When she first arrived at the hielera, she [L.L.C., a sixteen-year-old child from Guatemala] was yelled at by the guards and given a single mylar blanket. L.L.C. and the other children slept in a shelter with only a roof but no walls. L.L.C. recalls being very cold but afraid to ask for more blankets after seeing other children get yelled at.… L.L.C. also suffered verbal abuse while in CBP custody. She was spoken to in both English and Spanish, and officers would become angry and yell at the children when they did not fall asleep immediately.
  • K.M.A. [a 17-year-old] arrived in the United States with a minor friend and witnessed CBP officers take him into a small room and yell at him. Other CBP officers berated K.M.A. because she was pregnant and accused her of providing a false birth certificate. The CBP officers yelled at K.M.A. so much that she cried, and when she asked to call her mother, they refused to allow her to use the phone. K.M.A. was examined by a nurse while detained in CBP custody, and K.M.A. asked the nurse if it was common for the CBP officers to yell at children in the way she had experienced. The nurse responded that she could not answer the question and instead told CBP officers what K.M.A. had asked her. K.M.A. was then yelled at by two CBP officers, who told her that child immigrants should not come to the United States because it was a waste of taxes. The CBP officers accused K.M.A. of only coming to the United States so her baby could be a U.S. citizen and so that she could receive welfare. The officers expressed to her that it was not fair that the U.S. government would pay to support her baby. K.M.A. was also threatened by CBP officers. She was told that she would be put in jail because she was pregnant and because she had brought a fake birth certificate, even though K.M.A. repeatedly assured the officers that it was not fake.

“It is not limited to one child or one instance,” ImmDef’s complaint concludes.

It is not limited to the conduct of a “bad apple” employee within the agency. It is not limited to even a rogue or remote CBP outpost that lacks training and resources. The sheer number of children who have reported abuse, many of whom told us that they fear retaliation and were afraid to speak up, suggests that these examples are but a fraction of the actual total.

— Hannah Comstock, Carson Scott, Madeline Sachs, “Abuse of Unaccompanied Minors in Customs and Border Protection Custody, January to December 2021” (Los Angeles: Immigrant Defenders Law Center, April 6, 2022) https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21694269-alleged-abuse-of-unaccompanied-minors-in-customs-and-border-protection-custody.

— Keegan Hamilton, “Kids Allege Medical Neglect, Frigid Cells, and Rotten Burritos in Border Detention” (United States: VICE, May 2, 2022) https://www.vice.com/en/article/93b4vv/border-patrol-abuse-migrant-children.

Footnotes from above:

[26]: This phrase translates to “Get up a–holes”

[37]: These phrases translate to “a–holes” and “sons of bitches.”

Sector(s): Border-Wide

Agency(ies): CBP

Event Type(s): Abuse of Minor, Abusive Language

Last Known Accountability Status: Complaint Filed with CRCL, Shared with DHS OIG

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Female, Guatemala, Mexico, Pregnancy, Unaccompanied Child

2021, all year

Four children’s defense organizations filed complaints in a California district court after hearing unaccompanied migrant children narrate abuse and poor treatment while in short-term CBP custody during 2021 (original link). The complaints were filed on April 11, 2022 and shared by VICE News on May 2, 2022.

During 2021, attorneys from the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) provided Know Your Rights presentations and conducted legal screenings for at least 2,356 unaccompanied children exiting CBP custody. “During these legal screenings,” reads ImmDef’s complaint, “staff asked children to describe their experience being processed through the U.S. immigration system, with a focus on the conditions in CBP custody.”

“ImmDef encountered forty-two children who were held in unsanitary conditions, 126 children who were forced to sleep on the ground or outside, and 452 children who were detained for longer than 72 hours,” the organization’s complaint reads. “Many children also reported extremely cold temperatures and privacy violations.” Examples include:

  • [L.G.O. is a thirteen-year-old child from El Salvador, was] forced to lie on the floor without a mattress. She was unable to sleep because light and noise were constant. L.G.O. was never given the opportunity to shower.
  • H.G.C. is a sixteen-year-old child from Guatemala who was held in a hielera for three days. H.G.C. was also held in a cell that housed other detainees and contained only one, entirely exposed toilet. H.G.C.’s only hope for privacy was to ask his cellmates to move to the opposite side of the room each time he used the bathroom. During his three days in the hielera, the lights were always on, causing H.G.C. to lose sense of whether it was day or night.
  • G.G.G. is a seventeen-year-old child from Guatemala who was detained for four days in a hielera that had bathrooms without doors, leaving him and the other children without any privacy while using the toilet. The facility was kept at very cold temperatures, yet G.G.G. never received a blanket thick enough to keep him warm.… During his four days in CBP custody, G.G.G. was only allowed to make one phone call.
  • O.L.L., an eleven-year-old child from Guatemala, was detained in a hielera for seven and a half days under frigid conditions that caused his lips to turn purple. O.L.L. only speaks Spanish, yet officers spoke to him in English. He was only allowed to make one phone call every three days.
  • [D.S., a seventeen-year-old child from Romania,] was given a mylar blanket but was never provided a toothbrush or toothpaste.
  • [D.C.E., a 16-year-old,] was not given supplies to brush his teeth or take a full shower, and he did not have privacy when using the bathroom. While D.C.E. was detained, the lights were always on in the facility, making it difficult for him to distinguish between day and night. His waking hours were marked by meals consisting of old or spoiled food, which made him sick.
  • CBP officers yelled loudly near her ears [M.J.C., a 14-year-old] to wake her up and only gave her a mylar blanket to keep warm despite M.J.C.’s request for a different blanket. She was forced to sleep on a bench or on the ground close to others, in blatant disregard for the risks of such proximity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. M.J.C. was also repeatedly denied requests to use the toilet and was never given a change of clothes—for eighteen days, she wore the same dirty clothes she had arrived in.
  • M.T.P., B.T.P., and A.T.P. are three sisters from Guatemala who were detained in CBP custody for seven days, during which they experienced mistreatment and medical neglect. The T.P. sisters were placed in a dirty, crowded detention facility where they were held with other children who were sick to the point of vomiting. They were not allowed to shower for the first four days they were detained and reported that CBP failed to undertake any efforts to maintain hygiene or social distancing in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sisters felt uncomfortable using the toilets in the facility due to the lack of privacy, and they were not provided with sufficient sanitary supplies. All three sisters experienced issues with the quality of food. M.T.P. became so sick she was forced to stop eating the burritos. Instead, she ate only a cookie and water each day and was afraid to ask CBP officers for alternatives or medicine because she had seen others being yelled at.
  • During her thirteen days in the hielera, M.G.G. [a seventeen-year-old from El Salvador] was never given a blanket or a change of clothes and was only allowed to shower once. By way of explanation, CBP officers swore at her and told her that it “wasn’t a hotel.” Every day, she was woken up early and could not sleep. M.G.G. also reported that she was given old and rotten food. For thirteen days, she was only fed burritos with rice and apples. When she told CBP officers that she felt sick, they told her to drink more water and exercise. However, she was only given a single small bottle of water each day at 6am.
  • L.L.C. [a sixteen-year-old child from Guatemala] was transferred to a hielera in Texas, where she stayed for the next twelve days. L.L.C. described the walls of the hielera as equivalent to a thick nylon, and she was held in a room approximately the size of a conference room with eighty-one other girls. The cell was so crowded that she was forced to sleep pressed up against the person next to her or sitting up. L.L.C. described being extremely cold day and night. She described feeling like she and the other children were being treated like animals. The food in the hielera consisted of burritos that tasted spoiled, and L.L.C. soon became sick. When she reported feeling ill to medical staff, they did not address her concerns. As a result, L.L.C. was forced to skip meals.… L.L.C. described that it was difficult to sleep because the CBP officers woke them every hour in order to clean the cells and the lights were always kept on. L.L.C. was only able to brush her teeth three times per week, and she was only able to bathe once during the twelve days she was held in the hielera. L.L.C. felt that there was no privacy in the bathrooms, and there were several times when she did not have toilet paper. She was only allowed to make one, two-minute telephone call, and during the call a CBP officer stood within earshot.
  • In the hielera, M.V.P. [a seventeen-year-old child from Guatemala] was confined to a cell with around eighty other people, including women with small children. M.V.P. reported that there was nowhere to sit or sleep the first night, and she slept sitting on a metal bench the following nights. The cell also contained a toilet, which was not closed off from the rest of the space. As a result, M.V.P. and her cell mates were forced to use the mylar blankets that they slept with as makeshift curtains to create privacy for the toilet. M.V.P. was not given any opportunity to shower during her time in CBP custody.
  • Once J.N.P. [a 16-year-old] arrived at the hielera, she was forced to bathe with many other girls in one bathroom. There was no privacy except for transparent curtains, and J.N.P. reported feeling very uncomfortable. The girls had to bathe without clothes on, yet officers were present with them in the bathrooms and were rude and disrespectful. When J.N.P. and some of the other girls complained, the CBP officers yelled at them and rushed them out as soon as their five minutes were up. Even after she bathed, J.N.P. developed head lice and dandruff due to the unsanitary conditions. Throughout her time in the hielera, J.N.P. was given egg burritos for every meal, which left her feeling hungry and ultimately gave her stomach pains. When she needed to use the bathroom, there was no privacy—the toilets were separated by walls on the sides but not in the front, and J.N.P. felt uncomfortable using the bathroom because others could see everything. The temperatures inside the hielera were kept extremely cold, and J.N.P. was denied blankets or more clothes when she asked. The cold made sleeping difficult, and J.N.P. was forced to sleep on a thin mat pressed up against strangers due to overcrowding. The lights were also left on the entire time, yet when J.N.P. and other children could not sleep, CBP officers only yelled at them. Throughout her time in the hielera, J.N.P. was not allowed to make any phone calls.

“It is not limited to one child or one instance,” ImmDef’s complaint concludes.

It is not limited to the conduct of a “bad apple” employee within the agency. It is not limited to even a rogue or remote CBP outpost that lacks training and resources. The sheer number of children who have reported abuse, many of whom told us that they fear retaliation and were afraid to speak up, suggests that these examples are but a fraction of the actual total.

— Hannah Comstock, Carson Scott, Madeline Sachs, “Abuse of Unaccompanied Minors in Customs and Border Protection Custody, January to December 2021” (Los Angeles: Immigrant Defenders Law Center, April 6, 2022) https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21694269-alleged-abuse-of-unaccompanied-minors-in-customs-and-border-protection-custody.

— Keegan Hamilton, “Kids Allege Medical Neglect, Frigid Cells, and Rotten Burritos in Border Detention” (United States: VICE, May 2, 2022) https://www.vice.com/en/article/93b4vv/border-patrol-abuse-migrant-children.

Sector(s): Border-Wide

Agency(ies): CBP

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

Last Known Accountability Status: Complaint Filed with CRCL, Shared with DHS OIG

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Female, Guatemala, Romania, Unaccompanied Child

2021, all year

Four children’s defense organizations filed complaints in a California district court after hearing unaccompanied migrant children narrate abuse and poor treatment while in short-term CBP custody during 2021 (original link). The complaints were filed on April 11, 2022 and shared by VICE News on May 2, 2022.

During 2021, attorneys from the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) provided Know Your Rights presentations and conducted legal screenings for at least 2,356 unaccompanied children exiting CBP custody. “During these legal screenings,” reads ImmDef’s complaint, “staff asked children to describe their experience being processed through the U.S. immigration system, with a focus on the conditions in CBP custody.”

ImmDef’s complaint cites the following examples of CBP personnel confiscating children’s documents:

  • P.A.M. [a sixteen-year-old child from Mexico] was ultimately hospitalized for two days because she began experiencing contractions and had a high-risk pregnancy. CBP refused to give her the discharge documents that had important information for her follow up appointments.
  • L.G.O. is a thirteen-year-old child from El Salvador… Upon apprehension, her birth certificate was confiscated and never returned to her, and she was not allowed to make any phone calls.
  • D.S. is a seventeen-year-old child from Romania who was held in CBP custody for five days. When he was taken into custody, CBP confiscated his passport.… D.S. did not have access to sufficient interpretation services and was forced to sign some documents that were never explained to him in Romanian. D.S.’s passport was never returned to him.

“It is not limited to one child or one instance,” ImmDef’s complaint concludes.

It is not limited to the conduct of a “bad apple” employee within the agency. It is not limited to even a rogue or remote CBP outpost that lacks training and resources. The sheer number of children who have reported abuse, many of whom told us that they fear retaliation and were afraid to speak up, suggests that these examples are but a fraction of the actual total.

— Hannah Comstock, Carson Scott, Madeline Sachs, “Abuse of Unaccompanied Minors in Customs and Border Protection Custody, January to December 2021” (Los Angeles: Immigrant Defenders Law Center, April 6, 2022) https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21694269-alleged-abuse-of-unaccompanied-minors-in-customs-and-border-protection-custody.

— Keegan Hamilton, “Kids Allege Medical Neglect, Frigid Cells, and Rotten Burritos in Border Detention” (United States: VICE, May 2, 2022) https://www.vice.com/en/article/93b4vv/border-patrol-abuse-migrant-children.

Sector(s): Border-Wide

Agency(ies): CBP

Event Type(s): Abuse of Minor, Confiscation of Documents

Last Known Accountability Status: Complaint Filed with CRCL, Shared with DHS OIG

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Female, Mexico, Romania, Unaccompanied Child

2021, all year

Four children’s defense organizations filed complaints in a California district court after hearing unaccompanied migrant children narrate abuse and poor treatment while in short-term CBP custody during 2021 (original link). The complaints were filed on April 11, 2022 and shared by VICE News on May 2, 2022.

During 2021, attorneys from the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) provided Know Your Rights presentations and conducted legal screenings for at least 2,356 unaccompanied children exiting CBP custody. “During these legal screenings,” reads ImmDef’s complaint, “staff asked children to describe their experience being processed through the U.S. immigration system, with a focus on the conditions in CBP custody.”

“ImmDef has encountered…twenty-three children who suffered medical neglect,” reads the organization’s complaint, which includes the following examples:

  • R.M.M. [a seventeen-year-old child from Guatemala] received medication for three days, but his later requests for medical attention were outright denied. Instead, CBP officers yelled at him and called him names.
  • M.J.C. [a 14-year-old] requested medical attention, which CBP officers denied for three days, instructing her instead to lie down or sleep. CBP officers eventually had to take M.J.C. to a hospital after her symptoms worsened. Doctors later confirmed that her stomach problems were caused by the food provided in the hielera and that she was living with an untreated broken arm that she sustained during her journey. M.J.C. was eventually returned to the CBP facility, where officers withheld her medications and only provided her the same food that made her sick and landed her in the hospital. She became so hungry that she had no option but to eat the dangerous food, which unsurprisingly caused her to experience the same stomach pain. This time, however, she was too afraid to tell the officers that she was in pain and instead suffered in silence.

A June 2022 report from the Marshall Project elaborated on M.J.C.’s story:

It was during that chaos in the spring of 2021 when M.J., an unaccompanied 14-year-old girl from Guatemala, landed in a Border Patrol facility in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Instead of the maximum of 72 hours, as required, she was held for 18 days, according to case records reviewed by lawyers with the Immigrant Defenders, who are representing her in her immigration case.

M.J. had been injured in the last days of her journey across Mexico. She leapt from a moving freight train, landing on her shoulder in a bank of rocks, M.J. said in an interview in California in March. (Because she is a minor in legal proceedings, she asked that her name and exact location not be published.)

With her arm swollen and blue, M.J. turned herself in to the Border Patrol soon after crossing the Rio Grande. Agents kept her in handcuffs for 24 hours, she said, aggravating the ache.

She was moved to a vast tent holding families and minors, most likely, based on court documents, in Donna, Texas. Crammed with dozens of girls into a cell defined by clear plastic walls, M.J. slept on a narrow metal bench for nearly three weeks. To leave the cell to use the bathroom, she had to ask each girl for permission to step over. She never had a change of clothes, she said.

She fashioned a sling from a borrowed cloth to relieve the throb in her shoulder. An attendant, citing security rules, took it away, M.J. said. There were nurses on duty, but they declined to give her medication for the pain.

“No one told you to come to the United States,” she said one attendant told her.

The only food was egg burritos and beans, often half-frozen. On the fourth day, M.J. said, she started to vomit from stomach cramps and shoulder pain. The medical staff, relenting, sent her to a local clinic, where examinations revealed a fractured shoulder and severe dehydration.

A physician gave her a sling and prescribed a painkiller. After she was returned to the detention facility later that day, M.J. said, a guard took away the new sling. She never received the medication.

  • When B.T.P. [a Guatemalan girl] asked for medical assistance due to constant headaches, she was first ignored and later told that she would see a doctor. The doctor never arrived.
  • M.G.G. [a seventeen-year-old from El Salvador] also reported a lack of COVID-19 precautions and general medical neglect. When she first arrived, M.G.G. was not given a COVID-19 test and later discovered that there were people with active cases of COVID-19 held in the hielera with her. She was not provided with a mask.
  • The food in the hielera consisted of burritos that tasted spoiled, and L.L.C. [a sixteen-year-old child from Guatemala] soon became sick. When she reported feeling ill to medical staff, they did not address her concerns. As a result, L.L.C. was forced to skip meals. L.L.C. witnessed similar treatment of other children when they felt sick—CBP officers refused to provide medicine and only told the children to drink more water.
  • While crossing the border, M.V.P. [a seventeen-year-old child from Guatemala] hurt the back of her right knee while jumping over a wall. When she asked to see a doctor in the CBP facility, she was given unidentified pills but did not receive any other treatment or follow up.… After four days in CBP custody, M.V.P. began experiencing severe stomach pains and complained to CBP officers. Four hours later, she was taken to a nurse, who did not treat her. After another nine to ten hours of suffering severe pain, M.V.P. was taken to the emergency room, where she was diagnosed with dehydration and put on an IV. When she was discharged from the emergency room, the doctor gave the immigration official paperwork about her condition. M.V.P believes there was more to her condition than dehydration, but she never received a copy of that paperwork.

“It is not limited to one child or one instance,” ImmDef’s complaint concludes.

It is not limited to the conduct of a “bad apple” employee within the agency. It is not limited to even a rogue or remote CBP outpost that lacks training and resources. The sheer number of children who have reported abuse, many of whom told us that they fear retaliation and were afraid to speak up, suggests that these examples are but a fraction of the actual total.

— Hannah Comstock, Carson Scott, Madeline Sachs, “Abuse of Unaccompanied Minors in Customs and Border Protection Custody, January to December 2021” (Los Angeles: Immigrant Defenders Law Center, April 6, 2022) https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21694269-alleged-abuse-of-unaccompanied-minors-in-customs-and-border-protection-custody.

— Keegan Hamilton, “Kids Allege Medical Neglect, Frigid Cells, and Rotten Burritos in Border Detention” (United States: VICE, May 2, 2022) https://www.vice.com/en/article/93b4vv/border-patrol-abuse-migrant-children.

— Anna Flagg and Julia Preston, “‘No Place for a Child’: 1 in 3 Migrants Held in Border Patrol Facilities Is a Minor” (The Marshall Project, Politico: June 16, 2022) https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/06/16/border-patrol-migrant-children-detention-00039291.

Sector(s): Border-Wide

Agency(ies): CBP

Event Type(s): Abuse of Minor, Conditions in Custody, Denial of Medical Care

Last Known Accountability Status: Complaint Filed with CRCL, Shared with DHS OIG

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Female, Guatemala, Unaccompanied Child

2021, all year

Four children’s defense organizations filed complaints in a California district court after hearing unaccompanied migrant children narrate abuse and poor treatment while in short-term CBP custody during 2021 (original link). The complaints were filed on April 11, 2022 and shared by VICE News on May 2, 2022.

During 2021, attorneys from the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) provided Know Your Rights presentations and conducted legal screenings for at least 2,356 unaccompanied children exiting CBP custody. “During these legal screenings,” reads ImmDef’s complaint, “staff asked children to describe their experience being processed through the U.S. immigration system, with a focus on the conditions in CBP custody.”

“ImmDef has encountered 172 children who were not given adequate food and water,” reads the organization’s complaint, which includes the following examples:

  • R.M.M. is a seventeen-year-old child from Guatemala who was detained in CBP custody for eight days, during two of which he received no food, causing him to experience head pains and stomach problems.
  • L.G.O. is a thirteen-year-old child from El Salvador who only received a single meal consisting of cold, rotten food each day she was held in CBP custody.
  • M.V.P. [a seventeen-year-old child from Guatemala] reported that she did not eat during her time at the detention center because the burritos given to the children smelled spoiled. She was given only small amounts of water.

“It is not limited to one child or one instance,” ImmDef’s complaint concludes.

It is not limited to the conduct of a “bad apple” employee within the agency. It is not limited to even a rogue or remote CBP outpost that lacks training and resources. The sheer number of children who have reported abuse, many of whom told us that they fear retaliation and were afraid to speak up, suggests that these examples are but a fraction of the actual total.

— Hannah Comstock, Carson Scott, Madeline Sachs, “Abuse of Unaccompanied Minors in Customs and Border Protection Custody, January to December 2021” (Los Angeles: Immigrant Defenders Law Center, April 6, 2022) https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21694269-alleged-abuse-of-unaccompanied-minors-in-customs-and-border-protection-custody.

— Keegan Hamilton, “Kids Allege Medical Neglect, Frigid Cells, and Rotten Burritos in Border Detention” (United States: VICE, May 2, 2022) https://www.vice.com/en/article/93b4vv/border-patrol-abuse-migrant-children.

Sector(s): Border-Wide

Agency(ies): CBP

Event Type(s): Abuse of Minor, Conditions in Custody, Denial of Food or Water

Last Known Accountability Status: Complaint Filed with CRCL, Shared with DHS OIG

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Female, Guatemala, Unaccompanied Child

2021, all year

Four children’s defense organizations filed complaints in a California district court after hearing unaccompanied migrant children narrate abuse and poor treatment while in short-term CBP custody during 2021 (original link). The complaints were filed on April 11, 2022 and shared by VICE News on May 2, 2022.

During 2021, attorneys from the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) provided Know Your Rights presentations and conducted legal screenings for at least 2,356 unaccompanied children exiting CBP custody. “During these legal screenings,” reads ImmDef’s complaint, “staff asked children to describe their experience being processed through the U.S. immigration system, with a focus on the conditions in CBP custody.”

ImmDef’s complaint cites the account of “M.G.G.,” a 17-year-old from El Salvador, who “was separated from her brother and did not hear any information about his whereabouts, health, or safety for over three weeks, until she was finally able to make contact with him from the ORR shelter.… When she asked to call her mom or for any information about her brother, CBP officers denied her requests.”

— Hannah Comstock, Carson Scott, Madeline Sachs, “Abuse of Unaccompanied Minors in Customs and Border Protection Custody, January to December 2021” (Los Angeles: Immigrant Defenders Law Center, April 6, 2022) https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21694269-alleged-abuse-of-unaccompanied-minors-in-customs-and-border-protection-custody.

— Keegan Hamilton, “Kids Allege Medical Neglect, Frigid Cells, and Rotten Burritos in Border Detention” (United States: VICE, May 2, 2022) https://www.vice.com/en/article/93b4vv/border-patrol-abuse-migrant-children.

Sector(s): Border-Wide

Agency(ies): CBP

Event Type(s): Family Separation

Last Known Accountability Status: Complaint Filed with CRCL, Shared with DHS OIG

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Female, Unaccompanied Child

2021, all year

Four children’s defense organizations filed complaints in a California district court after hearing unaccompanied migrant children narrate abuse and poor treatment while in short-term CBP custody during 2021 (original link). The complaints were filed on April 11, 2022 and shared by VICE News on May 2, 2022.

During 2021, attorneys from the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) provided Know Your Rights presentations and conducted legal screenings for at least 2,356 unaccompanied children exiting CBP custody. “During these legal screenings,” reads ImmDef’s complaint, “staff asked children to describe their experience being processed through the U.S. immigration system, with a focus on the conditions in CBP custody.”

ImmDef’s complaint cites the account of “M.G.G.,” a 17-year-old from El Salvador, who “reported that she felt she was touched inappropriately during the officers’ search of her belongings because she had her identification hidden under her clothes.”

— Hannah Comstock, Carson Scott, Madeline Sachs, “Abuse of Unaccompanied Minors in Customs and Border Protection Custody, January to December 2021” (Los Angeles: Immigrant Defenders Law Center, April 6, 2022) https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21694269-alleged-abuse-of-unaccompanied-minors-in-customs-and-border-protection-custody.

— Keegan Hamilton, “Kids Allege Medical Neglect, Frigid Cells, and Rotten Burritos in Border Detention” (United States: VICE, May 2, 2022) https://www.vice.com/en/article/93b4vv/border-patrol-abuse-migrant-children.

Sector(s): Border-Wide

Agency(ies): CBP

Event Type(s): Abuse of Minor, Sexual Assault or Harassment

Last Known Accountability Status: Complaint Filed with CRCL, Shared with DHS OIG

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Female, Unaccompanied Child

2021, all year

Four children’s defense organizations filed complaints in a California district court after hearing unaccompanied migrant children narrate abuse and poor treatment while in short-term CBP custody during 2021 (original link). The complaints were filed on April 11, 2022 and shared by VICE News on May 2, 2022.

During 2021, attorneys from the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) provided Know Your Rights presentations and conducted legal screenings for at least 2,356 unaccompanied children exiting CBP custody. “During these legal screenings,” reads ImmDef’s complaint, “staff asked children to describe their experience being processed through the U.S. immigration system, with a focus on the conditions in CBP custody.”

ImmDef’s complaint cites the following examples of CBP personnel using excessive force or physical roughness with children:

  • L.A.C. is a sixteen-year-old child from Honduras who was detained in a hielera[10] and kicked by CBP officers while she slept if she did not get up fast enough.
  • P.A.M. is a sixteen-year-old child from Mexico who was seven-months pregnant while in CBP custody. CBP officers pulled P.A.M.’s hair while conducting a body search and grabbed her ankle without warning, causing her to lose her balance.
  • Upon apprehension, M.G.G. [a seventeen-year-old child from El Salvador] was denied water and witnessed other individuals being physically beaten by immigration officers.

“It is not limited to one child or one instance,” ImmDef’s complaint concludes.

It is not limited to the conduct of a “bad apple” employee within the agency. It is not limited to even a rogue or remote CBP outpost that lacks training and resources. The sheer number of children who have reported abuse, many of whom told us that they fear retaliation and were afraid to speak up, suggests that these examples are but a fraction of the actual total.

— Hannah Comstock, Carson Scott, Madeline Sachs, “Abuse of Unaccompanied Minors in Customs and Border Protection Custody, January to December 2021” (Los Angeles: Immigrant Defenders Law Center, April 6, 2022) https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21694269-alleged-abuse-of-unaccompanied-minors-in-customs-and-border-protection-custody.

— Keegan Hamilton, “Kids Allege Medical Neglect, Frigid Cells, and Rotten Burritos in Border Detention” (United States: VICE, May 2, 2022) https://www.vice.com/en/article/93b4vv/border-patrol-abuse-migrant-children.

Footnotes from above:

[10]: Throughout this complaint, the word hielera is used to refer to CBP custody. Hielera, which roughly translates to “ice box,” is the word used by most children to describe CBP custody due to the extremely cold temperatures maintained in those facilities.

Sector(s): Border-Wide

Agency(ies): CBP

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

Last Known Accountability Status: Complaint Filed with CRCL, Shared with DHS OIG

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Female, Honduras, Mexico, Pregnancy, Unaccompanied Child

August 2, 2021

A CBP statement related the death in Border Patrol custody of a Salvadoran man near Eagle Pass, Texas (original link). The man had become “unresponsive” after being restrained for having reportedly become “unruly.”

The following statement pertains to an in-custody death that occurred near Eagle Pass, TX, on Monday, August 2, 2021. This information is based on a preliminary review and may be corrected or updated in the future. Additional information may also be released by other agencies investigating this incident.

On August 2, 2021, Border Patrol Agents (BPAs) were alerted to the presence of a group of suspected undocumented migrants inside a ranch approximately 17 miles south of Eagle Pass, Texas near Highway 277. BPAs assigned to the Eagle Pass South (EGS) Border Patrol Station responded and began tracking the group of migrants. After approximately nine hours of tracking the group, BPAs located and apprehended seven migrants while several other individuals fled. BPAs continued to search for these individuals.

Shortly thereafter, BPAs apprehended five more migrants, to include a male citizen of El Salvador. The man was initially handcuffed together with two other migrants using two sets of handcuffs. The man reportedly became unruly and was causing discomfort to the other two individuals to whom he was attached. When BPAs removed the handcuffs to separate him from the others, he attempted to escape, running a short distance before being apprehended again by BPAs. BPAs restrained him with his hands behind his back and placed him on the hood of a nearby Border Patrol vehicle. BPAs placed two other migrants on the front bumper area of the vehicle and two in the rear of the vehicle and drove back to the location where the first group was apprehended to await a transport vehicle.

Upon arrival at that location, BPAs removed all the migrants from the Border Patrol vehicle to await the transport vehicle; the El Salvadoran man remained restrained. When the Border Patrol transport vehicle arrived approximately one hour later, BPAs discovered the man was unresponsive. The BPAs began chest compressions and requested emergency medical services. When the Eagle Pass Fire Department arrived on the scene, medical personnel determined the man was deceased.

Consistent with agency procedures for reviewing in-custody deaths, CBP OPR immediately responded to the scene, interviewed migrants involved in the incident, and subsequently notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the DHS Office of Inspector General, and the Dimmit County Sheriff’s Department. The Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office and CBP OPR are reviewing this incident which is under investigation by the Texas Rangers. CBP is fully cooperating with all agencies reviewing or investigating this incident.

All CBP personnel involved in the incident have been reassigned to non-field enforcement activities, pending the results of the investigation and subsequent actions that may be warranted. Additionally, U.S. Border Patrol has initiated a full review of their transport and detention procedures to assure they are fully compliant with the CBP Transport, Escort, Detention, and Search (TEDS) policy.

A February 1, 2023 report from the DHS Inspector-General identified the deceased as Jason González-Landaverde. That report added a bit more detail about the period during which he became unresponsive:

Upon arrival at that location, the Border Patrol agents removed Mr. Gonzalez-Landaverde from the hood of the vehicle and placed him on the ground; he remained restrained. Agents likewise removed the other migrants from the vehicle and then directed all migrants to sit on the ground nearby to await the arrival of a transport vehicle. When the Border Patrol transport vehicle arrived, approximately 1 hour later, agents discovered Mr. Gonzalez-Landaverde was unresponsive.

“The autopsy reported the cause of death was acute renal failure,” the report continued, “which the medical examiner believed was most likely due to a combination of dehydration and hyperthermia (abnormally high body temperature).”

— “CBP Statement: Death in Custody at Eagle Pass, TX” (Washington: Customs and Border Protection, August 6, 2021) https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/speeches-and-statements/cbp-statement-death-custody-eagle-pass-tx-0.

— “ICE and CBP Deaths in Custody during FY 2021.” Washington: DHS Office of Inspector-General, February 1, 2023. <https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2023-02/OIG-23-12-Feb23.pdf>.

Sector(s): Del Rio

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Conditions of Arrest or Apprehension, Use of Force

Last Known Accountability Status: Shared with DHS OIG, Under FBI Investigation, Under OPR Investigation

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Single Adult

June, 2021

A report from Human Rights First discussed the separation of a Salvadoran man from the rest of his family at the border.

In June 2021, ICE detained a Salvadoran asylum seeker for two months waiting for a fear screening, which he passed. The man had been separated by DHS from his wife, two children, and mother when the family sought protection together at the southern border, according to an attorney who spoke with him.

“I’m a Prisoner Here”: Biden Administration Policies Lock Up Asylum Seekers (New York: Human Rights First, April 21, 2022) https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/i-m-prisoner-here-biden-administration-policies-lock-asylum-seekers.

Sector(s): Border-Wide

Agency(ies): CBP, ICE

Event Type(s): Family Separation

Last Known Accountability Status: Unknown

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Family Unit

April 17, 2021

A report from the Kino Border Initiative (KBI) and NETWORK discussed a Salvadoran asylum-seeking family’s violent Border Patrol apprehension and subsequent inability to seek asylum, before being expelled under Title 42.

A Salvadoran woman, her 10-year-old daughter, 1-year-old son, brother, cousin, and cousin’s daughter, entered the United States on April 17, 2021. They saw a Border Patrol truck arriving and waited for it to arrive so they could ask for asylum.

The Border Patrol agent who got out of the truck was enraged. He pulled a gun on the mother and family. He berated them, calling them “damned criminals,” “rats,” “terrorists,” and “criminals,” as they cried and asked for asylum. He spoke English and Spanish but spoke Spanish poorly, but the Salvadoran woman said she understood enough. He continued to pull his gun on them even though they were not posing any threat to his safety. They were unarmed and with children. She believed that he was going to kill them.

Then, another agent arrived and calmed the first agent down. Other agents and vehicles arrived to transport them. She told those agents that they were seeking asylum, but they said they didn’t speak Spanish.

Once they were transported to an open-air outpost, she asked the agents there for asylum and got the same answer. Then they were transported to a permanent building [the Nogales Border Patrol station] where they were inspected by a doctor. She told the doctor she wanted seek asylum and he just said good luck. At the facility, she told several more agents she wanted to seek asylum. Despite telling 7 or 8 different agents that they were hoping to seek asylum in the United States, they were repeatedly told that no one spoke Spanish and were never given a fear assessment. They were all expelled to Nogales, Sonora.

KBI filed a July 13, 2021 complaint with the DHS Office on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) and the CBP Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). The organization reported, “As of 8/17/2021, five weeks after the initial complaint was filed, KBI has received no response to this complaint.”

Due Process Denied (United States: Kino Border Initiative (KBI) and NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, August 2021) https://networklobby.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KINO-NETWORK-CBP-Abuses-consolidated.pdf.

Sector(s): Tucson

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Abusive Language, Conditions of Arrest or Apprehension, Denial of Protection to Most Vulnerable, Threat of Violence, Use of Force

Last Known Accountability Status: Complaint Filed with CRCL, Complaint Filed with OPR

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Family Unit

Late February, 2021

The Kino Border Initiative reported:

A young Salvadoran man traveling with his sister arrived at our migrant center after being expelled under Title 42 last week. While he was in CBP custody, a Border Patrol agent yelled at the group he was traveling with: “Don’t move, you “M—- F—-rs.” The agent threatened that if they so much as moved, he would release the dog to “tear them into sh–.” While detained by CBP, they did not receive any food, and were not allowed to go to the bathroom until they repeatedly insisted. They were expelled to Nogales, Sonora at 12AM, when the Mexican immigration office was closed and there was no one there to receive them, so they slept outside the INM office in the cold. When they arrived at KBI, they had gone about 3 days without eating.

— “March 4 Update From KBI” (Nogales: Kino Border Initiative, March 4, 2021).

Sector(s): Tucson

Agency(ies): Border Patrol, CBP

Event Type(s): Abusive Language, Conditions in Custody, Dangerous Deportation, Denial of Food or Water, Threat of Violence

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

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Family Unit

February 3, 2021

A report from the Kino Border Initiative (KBI) and NETWORK described Border Patrol agents’ rough treatment of an asylum-seeking family at a Nogales, Arizona port of entry.

A Salvadoran woman, her husband and two children traveled from El Salvador to Mexico initially to escape threats at home. Soon after, they also received threats in Mexico and decided to flee to the US. They approached the DeConcini port of entry in Nogales.

There, an agent shoved the woman who was eight months pregnant in the chest. The woman pleaded with the agent to not turn them back as they were fleeing danger in Mexico. The agents, both male and female, simply laughed at them when they explained the danger and said the family must go back. When the family said they had nowhere to go, the agents said that was not the agents’ problem. They forcibly removed them and took them to the Mexican immigration office at around 10:30 PM. The family slept by the line of cars entering the United States out of fear of navigating Nogales at night.

On the same day KBI filed the complaint [February 9, 2021], CBP OPR responded with the case number for the Joint Intake Center. Two weeks later, on 2/25/2021, KBI received an email from CRCL stating that they received the complaint, recorded it in their database, and will take no further action. Four months after the complaint was filed, on 6/2/2021, KBI received an email from CRCL saying they received the complaint and forwarded it to the OIG. No details were provided about disciplinary actions for officers or recourse for victims of abuse.

Due Process Denied (United States: Kino Border Initiative (KBI) and NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, August 2021) https://networklobby.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KINO-NETWORK-CBP-Abuses-consolidated.pdf.

Sector(s): Tucson

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Dangerous Deportation, Denial of Protection to Most Vulnerable, Use of Force

Last Known Accountability Status: Complaint Filed with CRCL, Complaint Filed with OPR, Shared with DHS OIG

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Family Unit, Pregnancy

Late January, 2021

The Kino Border Initiative reported:

Last week a 23-year-old Salvadoran woman who was 36 weeks pregnant arrived at our migrant aid center after BP agents expelled her under Title 42. When she was detained, she began to have strong headaches and was concerned that the stress was causing her to go into premature labor, something that had happened to her in a previous pregnancy. Border Patrol agents denied her medical attention three times, but she felt very ill and insisted on seeing a doctor. A Border Patrol agent responded by accusing her of lying, and threatened that she would face federal criminal charges if she kept causing problems. She continued insisting, and was finally taken to the hospital, where they discovered she was 2 cm dilated. After her headaches ceased, they expelled her to Nogales, Sonora, MX.

— “February 4 Update From KBI” (Nogales: Kino Border Initiative, February 4, 2021).

Sector(s): Tucson

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Abusive Language, Denial of Medical Care

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

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Female, Pregnancy

October 30, 2020

A New York Times, citing “a sharply critical internal email from a senior Border Patrol official,” revealed that U.S. border agencies have been using the Title 42 pandemic expulsion authority to send non-Mexican unaccompanied migrant children alone across the border into Mexico.

“Recently, we have identified several suspected instances where Single Minors (SM) from countries other than Mexico have been expelled via ports of entry rather than referred to ICE Air Operations for expulsion flights,” Border Patrol Assistant Chief Eduardo Sanchez wrote.

This appeared to violate agreements with Mexico for Title 42’s implementation. In addition, the Times explained,

The expulsions put children from countries such as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador at risk by sending them with no accompanying adult into a country where they have no family connections. Most appear to have been put, at least at first, into the care of Mexican child welfare authorities, who oversee shelters operated by religious organizations and other private groups.

The number of times non-Mexican children have been expelled alone was not clear, the Times reported:

The human rights organization Women’s Refugee Commission, working with several other advocacy organizations, filed a public records request with Mexican authorities and received data suggesting that at least 208 Central American children had been returned to the custody of Mexican authorities between March 21 and June 5. But the Mexican authorities did not specify how many of the children were traveling alone, and not accompanied by adults.

Title 42 was employed much more frequently during the pandemic’s first eight months to expel unaccompanied non-Mexican children to their home countries by plane. That, the Times noted, involved being

held only briefly in Border Patrol facilities or in hotels before being sent to their home countries, often without any notification to their families ahead of time. Some have had to borrow cellphones when they arrive at airports to look for family members who may be willing to take them in.

— Caitlin Dickerson, “U.S. Expels Migrant Children From Other Countries to Mexico” (New York: The New York Times, October 30, 2020) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/30/us/migrant-children-expulsions-mexico.html.

Sector(s): Border-Wide

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

Event Type(s): Expulsion of Unaccompanied Minor, Inappropriate Deportation, Return of Vulnerable Individuals

Last Known Accountability Status: Unknown

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Unaccompanied Child

Late October, 2020

The Kino Border Initiative reported:

A middle-aged Salvadoran woman who left San Salvador in August is one of over a dozen migrants who arrived in Nogales in the last two weeks and reported multiple abuses during their journey. In Mexico, she suffered poor conditions in detention, where detainees slept 15 to a room on the floor, and were not provided toilet paper, soap, toothpaste or any personal protective equipment, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Although she attempted to request international protection with US Border Patrol agents twice, both times agents refused to hear her fear claim or connect her to an official who could provide the appropriate fear assessment.

— “October 29 Update From KBI” (Nogales: Kino Border Initiative, October 29, 2020).

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: El Salvador, Female, Single Adult

July 4, 2020

The Kino Border Initiative reported:

A Salvadoran mother who was detained and expelled on July 4th with her 14-year-old daughter, who is asthmatic, reported that in the few hours in custody Border Patrol agents at the Nogales Station yelled at them repeatedly. One agent gathered the group and told everyone “send the message back to everyone that even if you have asylum cases and even if you have kids there would be no options in the US for you.” He told them “tell others that you would never triumph in the US.” She and her daughter were quickly returned to Mexico despite their fear of return and were never given a chance to share additional information on the persecution that they had fled in El Salvador.

— “July 9 Update From KBI” (Nogales: Kino Border Initiative, July 9, 2020).

Sector(s): Tucson

Agency(ies): Border Patrol

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

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

Victim Classification: El Salvador, Family Unit

May 27, 2020

The Kino Border Initiative reported, “A young Salvadoran woman who crossed the border to seek asylum expressed her fear of returning to her country of origin to the Border Patrol agents that apprehended her. The agents responded by laughing in her face.”

— Kino Border Initiative, “May 27 Update From KBI”, May 2020.

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: El Salvador, Female, Single Adult