Who would have thought that a agency thats dedicated to treating vulnerable, displaced, often non-white people like criminals and less-thans would have a history of horrific abuse and exploitation!
The report, compiled by the Washington Office on Latin America (Wola) and the Kino Border Initiative (KBI), migrant rights advocacy groups, details a pattern of misuse of lethal force, intimidation, sexual harassment and falsifying documents.
The authors wrote: “The lack of accountability is so widespread that it helps cement in place a culture that enables human rights violations.
One migrant who filed a complaint after agents using a four-wheel vehicle hit him and ran over his leg, said: “Border patrol has the right to apprehend someone but in the proper way, not wrongfully.
Thanks be to God – he gave me the strength to endure and overcome what they did to me … People do not have to put up with border patrol’s abuses.
KBI tracked 78 complaints filed on behalf of migrants between 2010 and 2022, of which it said 95% led to no proper investigation or disciplinary action.
Wola maintains its own database of complaints of alleged abusive or improper conduct, currently including 409 cases.