New York Times: “10 Shots Across the Border”

The death of a Mexican teenager four years ago in Nogales, Mexico and its aftermath has again led to serious questions about the agency’s use of excessive force as well as corruption within Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Border Patrol. In 2012, when Nogales police and the Border Patrol were alerted to two drug smugglers at the border wall that splits Nogales, one Border Patrol officer, Lonnie Ray Swartz, who claimed that rocks were being thrown at the officers, opened fire. He shot sixteen-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez on the Mexican side of the border. Rodriguez’s death was, in the words of James F. Tomsheck, who at the time led CBP’s Office of Internal Affairs, the “most egregious’’ of any excessive-force cases he’d seen at the agency, telling the New York Times that he felt ‘‘angry and sickened. Even if he had been throwing rocks previously—it’s conceivable, but there’s no evidence. But this was evidence of a Border Patrol agent shooting an unarmed boy.’’ By not charging the agent, Tomsheck said, the message would be that it’s “open season at the border.’’

Tomsheck, who has since left the agency, has been a severe critic of CBP’s handling of violence and abuse claims as well as CBP leadership, which he said had ‘‘a well-established history of intentional misinformation. Having sat through these meetings for years, after every one of these shootings, there’s an effort to spin and distort facts and obscure a clear understanding of what actually occurred.’’ In his position in Internal Affairs at the agency, he claimed that he held little actual power to investigate and remedy the misconduct claims. “We had a mandate to hold the Border Patrol accountable but were given very few to no authorities to do that job,’’ he told the New York Times.  ‘‘From Day 1, they aggressively resisted every effort.’’

In the past years, CPB has been accused of many instances of excessive force and abuse, including the shooting death of a Mexican man who was at a park with his family when a Border Patrol boat opened fire on a crowd of people, as well as other instances. A 2013 investigation by the Arizona Republic found that since 2005, CBP agents had killed forty-two people, and few had faced any repercussions even when the justification for the shooting was in doubt. While on average one CBP officer was arrested every day between 2005 and 2012—144 of them for corruption-level offenses—historically, Border Patrol agents have been rarely disciplined for misconduct allegations. In the case of Rodríguez, the officer who killed him was indicted three years after the teenager’s death, and only after the family’s civil lawsuit against the officer brought the case to public attention.  

One possible reason for the increase in misconduct cases over the years has been the dramatic surge in the number of border agents after September 11, along with the militarization of the agency. The number of Border Patrol agents doubled from 11,000 to 22,000, during President Bush’s second term, and the border patrol received such military hardware as drones, assault rifles, and Black Hawk helicopters. This arguably resulted in inexperienced agents with excessive firepower and a military-like mindset who often escalated tense situations.

In their defense, CBP agency leaders have said that critics don’t understand the threats Border Patrol agents face, and that it’s easy for those to judge who don’t “wear green,” a reference to the border patrol uniforms. With dangerous drug cartels operating on the border, agents must be vigilant in the threat of extreme violence. "Anything that is out there can be used against our agents," Hector Garza, spokesman for the Laredo local of the border agents union, told the Los Angeles Times. "Mesquite wood, firearms, rocks, you name it." The National Border Patrol Council, which exclusively represents approximately 18,000 Border Patrol Agents and support personnel, claims that despite being one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the US, Border Patrol agents “use lethal force seven times less than the average law enforcement officer nationwide. The facts don't lie, we stand by our agents and the truth.”

OPINION: A Lifeline at the Border: No More Deaths

For decades there has been an increased militarization of the US-Mexico border. For most of the country’s history, the southwest has been culturally and economically connected to the northwest Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California Norte. After the 1980s, when hundreds of thousands of Central American refugees fled the wars in their countries and crossed our southern border, the US government began to construct walls and other barriers to stem the tide. In 1994, the government implemented Operation Gatekeeper, whose aim was to deter would-be migrants from crossing at the historic and well-worn crossings around the Tijuana/San Diego corridor. To some extent, the plan worked—fewer people crossed near the major population centers. But they did not stop coming. Instead, people were pushed out further and further into the extremely inhospitable terrain of the Sonora desert of southern Arizona. By the late 1990s, southern Arizona became the epicenter of a migration, and ground zero of an increasingly deadly journey. There do not appear to be good statistics of how many people die crossing into the US, but several thousand deaths have been documented over the last two decades, and it is estimated that several hundred die each year from dehydration, hypothermia, drowning, or exhaustion.

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The Guardian: "UN says 800 migrants dead in boat disaster as Italy launches rescue of two more vessels"

A shipwreck this past weekend off the coast of Libya has led to the death of 800 migrants and has prompted calls for the European Union to address the worsening migrant crisis in Europe. The boat, which set sail from Tripoli and is one of many unseaworthy vessels that human smugglers use, contained nationals of Gambia, Ivory Coast, Somalia, Eritrea, Mali, Tunisia, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh and Syria, and included children between the ages of ten and twelve. With only a reported twenty-seven survivors, it is the worst such disaster in the Mediterranean Sea. Italian authorities arrested a Tunisian man who is believed to be the captain of the boat as well as a Syrian national, who were charged with human trafficking and the captain also charged with reckless multiple homicide. The overall migrant death toll in the Mediterranean Sea this year has already surpassed 1,500 victims—a drastic increase from the same period last year. The record number of migrants including children seeking haven in Europe is reminiscent of the US/Mexico border surge and crisis last year.

Italian rescuer Vincenzo Bonomo told La Repubblica: "'It was a sight that broke the hearts of even men of the sea like us. I saw children’s shoes, clothing, backpacks floating in the water. Every time we saw a shoe or a bag, any sign of life, we thought we might have found a survivor. But every time we were disappointed. It was heart-breaking[.]'"

In response, the European Union agreed after emergency meetings to launch military operations against the networks of smugglers in Libya deemed responsible for sending thousands of people to their deaths in the Mediterranean in addition to increasing maritime patrols as well as naval search-and-rescue missions. Anas el-Gomati, a researcher at the Sadeq Institute, a Libyan think-tank, questioned the effectiveness of the European response: "'Military action is a deterrent; it’s not a substitute for a coherent and robust policy...It will do nothing to stop the flow of migrants coming from sub-Saharan Africa and address the reasons as to why they choose to take a perilous route such as the western coast of Libya.'"

Nigerian refugee Hakim Bello, who previously survived the dangerous sea voyage and now lives in Berlin, called the Mediterranean Sea "the deadliest border in the world" and tried to explain what motivates migrants to undertake the dangerous journey: "We all have different reasons for doing it: some people think they’ll find a better life in Europe, others just want to get away from a war zone. But everyone feels they have no other option."

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of Malta said: "'What happened on Sunday was a game changer...There is a new realization that if Europe doesn’t act as a team, history will judge it very harshly, as it did when it closed its eyes to stories of genocide—horrible stories—not long ago.'"

The News & Observer: "Asylum for homeschooling enters immigration debate"

Recently introduced legislation, the Asylum Reform and Border Protection Act, sponsored by Representative Jason Chaffetz, would criminalize being an unauthorized immigrant in the US and also make it more difficult for applicants to prove a “credible fear of persecution claim” for US asylum. Included in the legislation is also a provision to help homeschoolers (and their families) persecuted in their home countries by granting up to 500 asylum claims per year based on persecution because of their preference for homechooling. Jürgen and Rosemarie Dudek, a German couple, who were sentenced to prison for three months because they were homeschooling their children, a practice that has been officially banned in Germany since 1938, could potentially benefit from such legislation. All Jürgen Dudek wants is “to be able to educate his kids without worrying about fines or prison” and said that the passage of the homeschool provision “would send a message to the German government that parents deserve the freedom to educate their children in the way they best see fit.”

Michael Donnelly, the director of global outreach for the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), which helped draft the bill, called it “groundbreaking” and said that a "'country that bans homeschooling is violating the basic human rights of their citizens.'" HSLDA also supported another German family, Uwe and Hannelore Romeike and their seven children, after a Tennessee judge initially granted the family asylum but the Obama administration overturned the decision, arguing that Germany’s homeschooling ban was not a form of religious persecution and therefore could not be used as a basis for US asylum. The Romeikes, like many homeschoolers, are religious and incorporate Christian teachings into their homeschool curriculum. While The Supreme Court declined to hear the family’s case, the Department of Homeland Security granted “deferred action,” allowing the Romeikes to remain in the US.

The homeschooling asylum provision, however, is puzzling to many, as it could actually weaken what has traditionally been a tough asylum standard. Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration professor at Cornell University Law School, "questions whether homeschooling bans rise to the level of persecution or whether they are more about discrimination and could set a more generous precedent, including those the overall legislation is intended to prevent." He said: "'Most courts have defined persecution as being something pretty significant...Generally, it’s hard to win asylum and they don’t want any decisions to make it seem easier to get asylum.'"

Representative Luis Gutiérrez questions whether it is right to offer asylum to homeschoolers while making asylum more difficult for those fleeing drug and gang violence. Gutiérrez said: “The Republicans have put homeschooling as a priority for asylum in the United States ahead of murder, rape, child abuse[.]'”

Opinion: Crisis at the Border

The surge in Central American children crossing the US-Mexico border over the last nine months has been all over the news, and has revealed some of the best—and worst—of this country. Surely, the increase in the number of children crossing the border has overwhelmed the US Border Patrol, who are far more used to arresting adults running from them than children running toward them, and are, moreover, entirely unequipped to care for and house these children. In many instances, these children have fled horrific gang violence and crushing poverty, and have come to the US in search of parents that they have not seen for most of their lives. This difficult situation has exposed the fault lines in American politics and given opportunities for people across the political spectrum to show their true colors.

The surge of new arrivals has provided fodder for Republican criticisms of President Obama as an “Amnesty President.” The president’s meager administrative measures to provide relief to the undocumented are blamed for fueling rumors that children will get a “permiso” if they can make it to the other side of the Rio Grande. (Calling Obama the “Amnesty President” is, of course, baseless posturing given the hard cold facts that many more people have been deported under the Obama administration than during any of his predecessors’ administrations, notwithstanding recent reports that deportations have actually decreased 20% in the last year compared to the year before).

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The Guardian and Bloomberg: What Will Obama do?

Congress began a five-week recess without passing any legislation to address immigration reform or the current border surge.  President Obama says he now intends "to act alone." The Guardian explores the options available to the President, from extending Deferred Action to the parents of DACA recipients or parents of children born in the United States, to Parole in Place, to new procedures and standards for deportation. 

It will be interesting to see how far the President goes. Many, including the President himself, believe he extended his administrative powers to their limits last year in providing Deferred Action for the DREAMERS.  Bloomberg highlights this aspect of the problem stating:

“Among the actions being considered is granting some of the 12 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally work permits that would allow them to stay in the country, according to a Democratic Senate aide and immigration advocates.

That’s sure to reignite Republican accusations that Obama exceeding his constitutional authority, one of their main campaign themes for November’s midterm elections. The Republican-controlled House last month voted to sue Obama over implementation of his signature health-care law.”

Some Republicans are even going as far as stating that they would call for impeachment if the President stretched his powers too far.  Stay tuned.  We will be sure to post updates as soon as we have them.

 

Border Surge Update: Children Reuniting with their Parents

It is estimated that more than 57,000 unaccompanied minors have crossed the US-Mexico border in the last several months, overwhelming the border agents and immigration courts seeking to stem the tide, as well as communities and legal resources seeking to help them. Most of these children are fleeing severe poverty, and many are fleeing gang and drug violence. Many of these children are also coming to reunite with their parents, immigrants living without legal status in the US. ABC News features a story of one young woman from Guatemala, 19-year old Washington, D.C. resident Cindy Monge, who made the journey herself when she was only 11 years old. Like many of the children coming now, Cindy had never met her father and rarely saw her mother when she left home in 2006 to reunite with her family.

The New York Times reports that a “vast majority” of the children coming to the US now are coming, at least in part, to reunite with their families. According to the article, Government officials are aware that many of the sponsors are also living illegally in the US. Since there is no requirement that a sponsor taking in a child be lawfully present in the US, many of these parents have quickly reclaimed their children. According to the article, those children who are not claimed remain in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is frantically scouring the country looking for suitable shelters to house the children as they process asylum claims and go through removal proceedings.