Published on Sun, May 11, 2014
The New York Times published an editorial calling for more transparency within Customs and Border Protection based on the Immigration Policy Center's report "No Action Taken: Lack of CBP Accountability in Responding to Complaints of Abuse [1]".
The editorial stated: "If a Border Patrol agent beats, kicks, threatens or otherwise abuses you, you can file a complaint. What you can’t count on, evidently, is anything being done about it.
That is the sorry conclusion of a study released last week [2] by the American Immigration Council [1], an advocacy organization in Washington. The council sought to collect data about abuse complaints against the Border Patrol — a difficult task, given the lack of transparency at Customs and Border Protection, the agency within the Department of Homeland Security to which the Border Patrol belongs.
The council had to sue under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain records of 809 complaints between January 2009 and January 2012. The accusations varied widely — of migrants kicked and stomped after being detained, struck in the face and head with flashlights and other objects, sexually groped, improperly strip-searched, verbally abused."
Published in the New York Times