Abuses

Recent Features

  • Special Report

No Action Taken: Lack of CBP Accountability in Responding to Complaints of Abuse

One of the most revealing findings of this report concerns the prevailing lack of action taken by CBP officials in response to the complaints received.

All Abuses Content

  • Blog

The Ongoing Mishandling of Migrants’ Possessions by CBP and ICE

December 21, 2016

Each year, tens of thousands of individuals are deported from the United States to Mexico without their personal belongings—including their identifications, money, and cell phones, among other...

  • Blog

Judge Orders Border Patrol to Immediately Provide Short Term Detainees with Basic Necessities

November 29, 2016

A federal judge ordered the Border Patrol to immediately cease its practice of refusing to provide basic amenities to people detained in Border Patrol holding cells in Tucson, Arizona. The judge...

  • Blog

The Death Toll of Immigration Detention

November 1, 2016

Each year on November 1 and 2, people around the world celebrate the Day of the Dead—sometimes called All Souls Day or Día de los Muertos in Spanish—to remember and honor children and adults who...

  • Blog

Hearing Reveals Ongoing Civil Rights Abuses at Border Patrol Checkpoints

September 14, 2016

Under current law, the Border Patrol is allowed to conduct certain enforcement activities within 100 miles of the U.S-Mexico border that it isn’t permitted to in areas further interior. In fact,...

  • Blog

Lengthy Detention and Reprehensible Conditions in Border Patrol Facilities, New Evidence Shows

August 18, 2016

Each year, the Border Patrol—a division of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—holds hundreds of thousands of individuals in detention facilities near the U.S. southern border. These...

  • Blog

Photographic Evidence of Conditions in CBP’s Short-Term Detention Facilities “Hieleras” Revealed

June 30, 2016

A judge in Arizona unsealed photographs central to ongoing litigation challenging deplorable and unconstitutional conditions in Border Patrol’s short-term detention facilities in the Tucson Sector...

  • Blog

This Lawsuit Seeks to Determine Whether Customs and Border Protection Has Improved Its Complaint System

June 6, 2016

Two years ago, the American Immigration Council released an analysis of data it had obtained from the Department of Homeland Security detailing an utter lack of responsiveness to complaints filed...

  • Blog

CBP Officers Accused of Abusive Behavior at Ports Of Entry

May 19, 2016

Residents along the U.S.-Mexico border in Western Texas and New Mexico face repeated abuse from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP’s) Office of Field Operations (OFO) officers at ports of...

  • Blog

Two People Died in Immigration Detention This Week

May 4, 2016

For more than a decade, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been criticized for the inadequate medical care available in its detention facilities, which has had deadly repercussions....

  • Blog

Berks Detention Center Employee Convicted of Sexual Assault of Young Honduran Mother

April 15, 2016

A judge in Pennsylvania this week sentenced Daniel Sharkey, a 41-year-old former counselor at the Berks County Residential Center, to six to twenty three months of jail time. Sharkey previously...

  • Blog

Asylum Seekers Challenge Spending Months Locked Up Without Interviews or Bond Hearings

August 24, 2018

Earlier this year, the Trump administration launched its “zero tolerance” policy, aimed at punishing immigrants, including asylum seekers, who enter the United States without authorization. Among...

  • Blog

Government Coerced Parents into Signing Their Rights Away Before Being Reunited with Their Children

August 23, 2018

In all the chaos of family separation, another disturbing detail has come to light: immigration officials may have coerced vulnerable parents into signing away their right to be reunified with...

  • Press Release

Complaint Details Coercive Tactics Used by Immigration Officials on Separated Parents

August 23, 2018
The complaint points to numerous examples, including that of Mrs. D.P., who was separated from her 9-year-old daughter for 47 days as a result of Attorney General Jeff Sessions' "zero-tolerance" border policy.
  • Advocacy

The Illegal and Systematic Practice of Coercing Separated Families Must Be Investigated

August 23, 2018

The Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy led to not only to the forcible separation of thousands of children from their parents, but the extreme duress and coercion of...

  • FOIA Litigation

FOIA Seeks Information Regarding CBP Responses to Complaints of Officer Abuse

This lawsuit seeks to compel U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to release records relating to CBP’s complaint process and actions taken in response to complaints made to CBP concerning its agents and officers since January 1, 2012.
  • Legal Resources and Litigation

Statement for the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on "Oversight of Immigration Enforcement and Family Reunification Efforts"

July 31, 2018
The statement shares our analysis and research regarding the nation's asylum system and the obligations of the U.S. government to asylum seekers, as well as our deep concern around the administration's family separation policies and increased prosecution of migrants.
  • Blog

The Family Reunification Deadline Passed. What’s Next for Separated Families?

July 27, 2018

The court-imposed deadline of July 26 for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reunite families separated at the southern border has passed. So far, over 1800 children have been released...

  • Blog

Government Uses Separated Children as Leverage to Coerce Parents Into Signing for Deportation

July 19, 2018

Among the many questions presented by the separation of immigrant families at the border is whether detained parents are being coerced into signing paperwork ensuring their deportation. Without...

  • Blog

Federal Investigation Finds ICE Fails to Address Sexual Assault, Abuse in Immigrant Detention Centers

July 10, 2018

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) consistently fails to conduct adequate inspections of its detention facilities or to follow up on recommended corrections at facilities that are...

  • Blog

The Trump Administration Is Choosing to Separate Children From Their Parents Every Day

June 19, 2018

Every day under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is choosing to separate children from their parents. Despite claims by the...

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