Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Friday, October 22nd, 2021

US Border Agents Engaged in ‘Shocking Abuses’ Against Asylum Seekers, Report Finds

Author:     Ed Pilkington
Source:     The Guardian (U.K.)
Publication Date:     Thu 21 Oct 2021 11.54 EDT
 Link: US Border Agents Engaged in ‘Shocking Abuses’ Against Asylum Seekers, Report Finds
Stephan:   I do not understand why the Biden administration is allowing the thuggish behavior of the federal agents from several agencies who handle the border to continue. This report is just one of several I have read, all making the point that things at the border have not changed all that much from the Trump administration under its replacement. Biden didn't change the people, held few if any accountable, so why did he think their behavior would change.
An opened gate at the US-Mexico border wall in Cameron county, Texas on 19 October 2021. Credit: Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

Shocking instances of sexual and physical abuse of asylum seekers at the southern US border by federal officers have been uncovered by Human Rights Watch, after a years-long battle to wrestle the information from the Department of Homeland Security under freedom of information laws.

A stash of redacted documents released to the human rights group after six years of legal tussles uncover more than 160 cases of misconduct and abuse by leading government agencies, notably Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and US Border Patrol. The papers record events between 2016 and 2021 that range from child sexual assault to enforced hunger, threats of rape and brutal detention conditions.

Some of the incidents involve alleged criminal activity by federal agents.

Human Rights Watch said that the documents “paint a picture of DHS as an agency that appears to have normalized shocking abuses at the US border. The US should take urgent and sustained action to stop such abuses”.

The newly released documents […]

Read the Full Article