Border Patrol Ignores Abuse Reports Made Against Their Agents: Study

Most of the complaints that immigrants and American citizens present against the United States Border Patrol are not given any attention and haven't caused any sort of disciplinary action, revealed a report released on Tuesday.

The study published by the Immigration Policy Center organization analyzed the information of 809 complaints which were presented against border patrol agents between January 2009 and January 2012, and the results obtained leave no doubts: the complaints are not getting any attention, at least not like they should.

Of the total amount of complaints, 40% are "still being investigated", and 97% of the remaining complaints did not result in any kind of disciplinary action; according to The USA Today, only 3% of all cases reported since two years ago had disciplinary consecquences.

According to the quoted source, investigators of the Immigration Policy Center acknowledged that they could not determine how many of the complaints had any merit, but said that the analysis carried out concluded that Customs and Border Protection officials rarely took measures against agents who have been accused of incurring in abuses against immigrants and citizens.

The New York Times cites two cases, the first is of a young man who tried to cross the border to the United States, clsoe to Douglas, Arizona, and who in Feb. 16, 2010 presented a formal complaint against a Border Patrol agent that punched him in the face during his arrest.

Three months later, a woman complained that an agent that hit her with his foot during her arrest close to El Paso, which caused her an abortion. According to the investigation quoted by The New York Post, in none of these cases disciplinary measures were applied against the accused agents.

"These bleak results are examples of the impunity culture which prevails at the CBP. Taking into account the enormous resources assigned to the CBP, the agency must do better work for its authorities to be accountable," commented Mellisa Crow, director of the Legal Action Center, according to the quoted newspaper.

On their part, CBP authorities assured that the results of this study do not reflect system problems of the agency.

"The CBP is committed to guaranteeing that our organization is capable of carrying out its challenging responsibilities, preserving human rights and the dignity of the people we come in contact with," said Kevin McAleenan, assistant commissioner of the agency, quoted by The New York Post.