Immigrants face hurdles in proving U.S. border agent abuse

HOUSTON — Within hours of being booked at a Border Patrol station in far West Texas, two teenage sisters from Guatemala came forward to allege that an agent conducted an improper strip search.

The agent in question denied the allegations, including the sisters’ claims that he touched their genitals. He insisted he had only fingerprinted the sisters before taking them back to their cell.

Investigating the case came down to the sisters’ word versus the agent’s — and as in dozens of similar cases, government investigators sided with the agent.

Advocates say the case — outlined in a report compiled by internal investigators — shows the kinds of hurdles detained immigrants face when they make claims of misconduct, even when they come forward immediately, as the sisters did.

“These women were actually, for lack of a better word, lucky that their case was investigated,” said Christina Mansfield, cofounder of the advocacy group Freedom for Immigrants. “They are in the extreme minority in that regard.”

The sisters, ages 17 and 19, entered the U.S. without legal permission in July 2016, several days after leaving their home village in Guatemala. They were detained by Border Patrol agents shortly after crossing the border.

A redacted copy of the investigative report shows that investigators determined that the sisters’ allegations could not be substantiated due to a lack of physical evidence. The station where the sisters were detained did not have cameras in the booking area. The room where the sisters say they were taken, later described as a supply room or a closet, wasn’t processed for fingerprints because the sisters said they didn’t touch anything. And the agent in question said he was alone with the sisters due to manpower shortages, the report says.

Immigration advocates say the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, which reviewed the sisters’ case, rarely recommends action against officers. A study by Freedom for Immigrants found that between January 2010 and July 2016, the inspector general received 84 complaints of coerced sexual contact against U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which includes Border Patrol. The inspector general opened just seven investigations, none of which are known to have led to charges, according to the study, which was conducted by examining government records.

The study found a similarly low number of cases were investigated by the inspector general for detention facilities operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

CBP would not directly address the sisters’ case or whether it disciplined the agent involved. The agency said it was committed to treating detainees with “professionalism and courtesy.”

Immigration authorities detain and process thousands of people every month who cross the U.S. border without permission. Border Patrol chief Carla Provost said in a recent interview that her agency takes any allegations against any of its 19,000 agents “very, very seriously.” Provost previously led CBP’s internal affairs division, which also investigates allegations of employee wrongdoing and that the agency has taken steps to strengthen in recent years.

The sisters were eventually released and went to live with their mother in California. One of the sisters has since sued the U.S. government. Both sides are now discussing a settlement.