This document was released by No More Deaths today. As you may know I volunteered with this group during the summer in the desert in Arizona. During their humanitarian work, No More Deaths interviews migrants who have been deported from the US to Mexico. There has long been suspicion that abuse takes place in USBP custody and during the deportations, but the scale and intensity is truly horrifying. I have rarely read anything more disturbing.
Between November 2008 and March 2011, over thirty thousand incidents of abuse of migrants in Border Patrol custody has been recorded. They range from beatings to denial of water to taking people's money to racist taunting to putting people in paddy wagons and driving them full speed across the desert- with the result being the people inside are thrown around and banged up, sometimes with broken bones. The victims of this violence are people who for the most part have not harmed anyone but have been forced to look for work and cross the border illegally so their families back home can survive... and the desperation that drove most of them to such a situation has been caused to a large part by American and Canadian trade policies.
The whole report is 72 pages long, and it is not a pleasant read. I am copying from fragments from the report.
Some examples quoted from the report
• Derogatory racial, ethnic, and sexual epithets
• Profanity
• Yelling and screaming for no apparent reason, both in the
field and in processing centers
Agents striking and/or kicking people in custody with
hands, feet or objects
• Agents running people over with vehicles or horses
• Use of chokeholds
• Sexual assault
• Chaining people together with shackles and forcing them
to run
• Use of restraints that leave bruise marks on arms and ankles
• Forceful application of standing and sitting positions that
are painful (e.g., hand-cuffing a detainee’s hands to their ankles
and leaving them in that position alone for hours)
• Forcing people to remove shoes and walk in the desert
• Lack of seat belts in Border Patrol and G4S/Wackenhut
vehicles
• Agents driving at high speeds over rough terrain
• Agents intentionally driving in circles to cause nausea
• Hazardous overcrowding
• Vehicles kept at extreme temperatures
Vandalism of life-saving resources
such as food, water, and blankets and
interference with medical treatment
Volunteers consistently meet migrants who are dehydrated
and starving, many times necessitating emergency medical
evacuations. Individuals also tell them about finding food and
water that saved their lives as they wandered the desert. No
More Deaths consistently documents the vandalism of those
very life-saving supplies it leaves in strategic locations where individuals
in crisis can find them.
Volunteers have acquired evidence that Border Patrol agents
vandalize these life-saving supplies in the desert. During 2010,
the group documented the large-scale destruction and removal
of life-saving water and resources at least once a week on average.
Multiple reports tell of Border Patrol vehicles seen leaving
an area with stockpiles of water, food and blankets. Humanitarian
aid workers subsequently find the items violently cut up
and thrown into ravines. On at least three occasions, Border
Patrol agents have been recorded in the act of removing water
that could have saved lives. In May 2011, a Border Patrol agent
in the field told No More Deaths volunteers that supervisors
advise agents to not simply destroy the water they found in the
desert, but to remove it entirely so as to not “litter.”
Feb. 16, 2010, anonymous man, 16, from Guatemala. He
walked for two days until being apprehended by the Border
Patrol. He was thrown to the ground and kicked in the knee.
Agents took his $20 and hit him in the back of the head with a
flashlight. As he told the story, he appeared confused about why
they had beaten him. “They didn’t understand me and treated
me like a dog,” he said. Agents joked about him, saying he was
like a toy. They asked if he wanted water, but when he responded
“yes,” they wouldn’t give him any. He was also taunted with
food. Eventually, during three days in custody, he received a
small packet of cookies and a small juice box each day.
Nov. 27, 2009, with Javier, 19, from Mexico. He stated that
while crossing in the desert, a Border Patrol agent apprehended
the group and beat two of his companions. He hit one in the
head three times, and grabbed the other by the hood of his
sweatshirt to throw him to the ground, and then kicked him
in the ribs. The agent took the group into custody without giving
them food, water or medical attention even though they requested
it. They were held for four hours in one location and
then moved to another in Tucson for 24 hours. The interviewee
reported that the Tucson center was dirty and so full that, even
with 40 people in one cell, people could not move. There were
no beds, only benches, and the air conditioning was turned on
high. During 28 hours in detention, detainees were given only
one small hamburger each. At one point, the interviewee tried
to address a guard, but the guard slammed the door in his face.
The agent who drove the van carrying the migrants to the Mariposa
Port of Entry drove recklessly. Despite the fact the van was
packed with 20 people and it was very hot, he turned the heat
all the way up and ignored requests to turn it down.
http://www.cultureofcruelty.org/wp-c...ueltyFinal.pdf
These crimes are being perpetrated against people who for the most part are innocent of any wrongdoing, except trying to escape poverty. Their cries rise up to the heavens. May their victimizers and all those who profit and take part and look away as this is taking place repent. It is not only innocent people, it is also Jesus they are hurting.
Between November 2008 and March 2011, over thirty thousand incidents of abuse of migrants in Border Patrol custody has been recorded. They range from beatings to denial of water to taking people's money to racist taunting to putting people in paddy wagons and driving them full speed across the desert- with the result being the people inside are thrown around and banged up, sometimes with broken bones. The victims of this violence are people who for the most part have not harmed anyone but have been forced to look for work and cross the border illegally so their families back home can survive... and the desperation that drove most of them to such a situation has been caused to a large part by American and Canadian trade policies.
The whole report is 72 pages long, and it is not a pleasant read. I am copying from fragments from the report.
Some examples quoted from the report
• Derogatory racial, ethnic, and sexual epithets
• Profanity
• Yelling and screaming for no apparent reason, both in the
field and in processing centers
Agents striking and/or kicking people in custody with
hands, feet or objects
• Agents running people over with vehicles or horses
• Use of chokeholds
• Sexual assault
• Chaining people together with shackles and forcing them
to run
• Use of restraints that leave bruise marks on arms and ankles
• Forceful application of standing and sitting positions that
are painful (e.g., hand-cuffing a detainee’s hands to their ankles
and leaving them in that position alone for hours)
• Forcing people to remove shoes and walk in the desert
• Lack of seat belts in Border Patrol and G4S/Wackenhut
vehicles
• Agents driving at high speeds over rough terrain
• Agents intentionally driving in circles to cause nausea
• Hazardous overcrowding
• Vehicles kept at extreme temperatures
Vandalism of life-saving resources
such as food, water, and blankets and
interference with medical treatment
Volunteers consistently meet migrants who are dehydrated
and starving, many times necessitating emergency medical
evacuations. Individuals also tell them about finding food and
water that saved their lives as they wandered the desert. No
More Deaths consistently documents the vandalism of those
very life-saving supplies it leaves in strategic locations where individuals
in crisis can find them.
Volunteers have acquired evidence that Border Patrol agents
vandalize these life-saving supplies in the desert. During 2010,
the group documented the large-scale destruction and removal
of life-saving water and resources at least once a week on average.
Multiple reports tell of Border Patrol vehicles seen leaving
an area with stockpiles of water, food and blankets. Humanitarian
aid workers subsequently find the items violently cut up
and thrown into ravines. On at least three occasions, Border
Patrol agents have been recorded in the act of removing water
that could have saved lives. In May 2011, a Border Patrol agent
in the field told No More Deaths volunteers that supervisors
advise agents to not simply destroy the water they found in the
desert, but to remove it entirely so as to not “litter.”
Feb. 16, 2010, anonymous man, 16, from Guatemala. He
walked for two days until being apprehended by the Border
Patrol. He was thrown to the ground and kicked in the knee.
Agents took his $20 and hit him in the back of the head with a
flashlight. As he told the story, he appeared confused about why
they had beaten him. “They didn’t understand me and treated
me like a dog,” he said. Agents joked about him, saying he was
like a toy. They asked if he wanted water, but when he responded
“yes,” they wouldn’t give him any. He was also taunted with
food. Eventually, during three days in custody, he received a
small packet of cookies and a small juice box each day.
Nov. 27, 2009, with Javier, 19, from Mexico. He stated that
while crossing in the desert, a Border Patrol agent apprehended
the group and beat two of his companions. He hit one in the
head three times, and grabbed the other by the hood of his
sweatshirt to throw him to the ground, and then kicked him
in the ribs. The agent took the group into custody without giving
them food, water or medical attention even though they requested
it. They were held for four hours in one location and
then moved to another in Tucson for 24 hours. The interviewee
reported that the Tucson center was dirty and so full that, even
with 40 people in one cell, people could not move. There were
no beds, only benches, and the air conditioning was turned on
high. During 28 hours in detention, detainees were given only
one small hamburger each. At one point, the interviewee tried
to address a guard, but the guard slammed the door in his face.
The agent who drove the van carrying the migrants to the Mariposa
Port of Entry drove recklessly. Despite the fact the van was
packed with 20 people and it was very hot, he turned the heat
all the way up and ignored requests to turn it down.
http://www.cultureofcruelty.org/wp-c...ueltyFinal.pdf
These crimes are being perpetrated against people who for the most part are innocent of any wrongdoing, except trying to escape poverty. Their cries rise up to the heavens. May their victimizers and all those who profit and take part and look away as this is taking place repent. It is not only innocent people, it is also Jesus they are hurting.
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