Customs and Border Protection (CBP) –
At a March 16 hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) condemned what she termed as the long and growing list of Border Patrol misconduct cases and called on the Patrol’s leadership to take action to stem this disturbing pattern of abuse and corruption.
“Over the past two years,” she said, “at least five Border Patrol agents have been accused or convicted of sex crimes, including one individual who assaulted an immigrant mother while her children sat in a nearby car. Last May, an immigrant detainee died after being beaten and shocked with a Taser four times. In June, an agent admitted to assaulting an immigrant at a processing center while later that month, an unarmed 15 year old boy was shot and killed in El Paso by Border Patrol personnel. Finally, in September, an agent went on trial for torturing a 16 year old suspected drug smuggler.”
Congresswoman Roybal-Allard went on to cite figures that show Border Patrol corruption investigations have increased from 245 in 2006 to more than 770 last year. She also noted that only 15% of applicants for employment with the Patrol undergo polygraph tests and of this cohort, fully 60% are rejected. In response, Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher and Customs and Border Protection Assistant Commissioner Thomas Winkowski indicated that accusations of wrongdoing are taken seriously and that the agency would be more proactive in investigating evidence of abuse and corruption moving forward. They also stated that in the future every applicant would be subjected to a lie-detector test.