May 6, 2014
Washington D.C. - Today, the American Immigration Council releases No Action
Taken: Lack of CBP Accountability in Responding to Complaints of Abuse,
by Daniel E. Martinez, Ph.D., Guillermo Cantor, Ph.D., and Water A. Ewing,
Ph.D., a report that analyzes complaints filed with U.S. Customs and Border
Protection between 2009 and 2012. The analysis is based on information
received through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation. The report
examines one of the few avenues available for people to report mistreatment
by Border Patrol agents - namely, the complaint system. For a long time,
advocates and legal providers on the border have highlighted the flaws
in the complaint system. This report is the first systematic attempt to
document the problem in a rigorous way. In addition, a coalition of immigrants'
rights groups has developed and released recommendations to DHS to address
the CBP Complaint Process.
"CBP has long been suspected of routinely violating individuals’
rights, and the fact that 97 percent of the cases in which a formal decision
was issued resulted in 'No Action Taken,' raises a red flag. We
don’t really know how serious CBP is about investigating the complaints,
but given the seriousness of the allegations, the majority of which involve
either physical abuse or excessive use of force, the lack of responsiveness
that the numbers show is indeed worrisome," said Guillermo Cantor,
Senior Policy Analyst at the American Immigration Council and one of the
report authors.
"These stark findings exemplify the culture of impunity that prevails
at CBP. Given the tremendous resources appropriated to CBP, the agency
must do a better job of holding its officers accountable for misconduct,"
said Melissa Crow, Director of the Council's Legal Action Center,
which filed the FOIA litigation.
To view the report and recommendations in their entirety, see:
No Action Taken: Lack of CBP Accountability in Responding to Complaints
of Abuse (Immigration Council Special Report, May 2014)
Recommendations to DHS to Improve Complaint Processing (Women's Refugee
Commision, May 2014)
To listen to a recording of a tele-briefing on the report, visit:
No Action Taken: Telebriefing (May 6, 2014)