Coalition files complaint on behalf of refugee children in Nogales

E.J. Montini of the Arizona Republic picks up where I left off in yesterday’s post about the Central American refugee children in Nogales. Politicial hacks treat immigrant kids like rotten fruit:

Hundreds of young border crossers from Central America were shipped by bus from Texas to Arizona and stacked like rotting fruit in a warehouse, and instead of saying, “How can we help?” the first thing Arizona politicians and political candidates said was, “Who can we blame?”

I blame them — for a lack of compassion, of conscience, of humanity.

It’s a long list, stretching from Republican gubernatorial candidates like State Treasurer Doug Ducey to members of Congress to Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery to Gov. Jan Brewer to elected officials whose names you wouldn’t recognize (for good reason.)

The word Wednesday is that a coalition of civil and human rights groups has filed an administrative complaint with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security demanding that the department reform policies that, according to a press release from the group, “have permitted enduring and widespread abuses of children in the custody of U.S. border officials.”

[The press release from the ACLU is below.]

It would have been a lot better if the federal government had notified Arizona of the problem in Texas and asked for our help, allowing there to be a coordinated effort to somehow house and process the children.

But if we now are throwing around charges of “child abuse” I wouldn’t limit it to government bureaucrats.

I’d include the many, many state, local and national politicians who have decided that the best thing they could do in the face of a real humanitarian crisis, one involving little children, would be to try to score political points against opponents, prop up their chances of getting elected or get themselves into the paper or on TV.

In other words, anything but actually, you know – HELPING.

It’s not the same with regular people. Volunteers from the Restoration Project, Phoenix, and others have been handing out water and food to immigrants passing through the bus terminal, as well as helping them contact family.

So, why aren’t our elected officials trying, really trying, to organize some assistance?

It’s not simply that we were not prepared to deal with these children, but that the only way our politicians seem capable of dealing with any crisis is to point fingers.

The nuns in my Catholic grade school had a saying about people who do that. They’d say that if you stopped looking for someone to blame a person could take all ten of his fingers and magically transform them into helping hands.

Press release from the ACLU:

Unaccompanied immigrant children report serious abuse by U.S. officials during detention

 

Civil and human rights groups file administrative complaint seeking immediate agency reform

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2014

CONTACT:
Julia Toepfer, National Immigrant Justice Center, 312-660-1635, jtoepfer@heartlandalliance.org
Susan Alva, Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, L.A., 213-251-3594, salva@ccharities.org
Steve Kilar, ACLU of Arizona, 602-492-8540, skilar@acluaz.org
Joseph Anderson, Americans for Immigrant Justice, 786-454-8564, janderson@aijustice.org

CHICAGO, LOS ANGELES, PHOENIX and MIAMI—Widespread abuse of unaccompanied immigrant children at the hands of U.S. border officials spurred a group of civil and human rights organizations to file a complaint today on behalf of more than 100 children, each of whom reported experiencing abuse and mistreatment while in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the border enforcement agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“Border Patrol agents are committing appalling abuses of children all along the border,” said Ashley Huebner, managing attorney of the Immigrant Children’s Protection Project at the National Immigrant Justice Center. “Even worse, Border Patrol has been committing these abuses for years, and our organizations have notified the agency numerous times, yet nothing has changed. The recent increase in arrivals of young people at the border makes it especially urgent that CBP ensure all children in their custody are treated safely and humanely.”

“Border agents operate in a zone of impunity,” said James Lyall of the ACLU Border Litigation Project. “Given CBP’s recent promise to be more accountable and transparent, we call on the agency to finally address these systemic abuses in a serious and meaningful way.”

Today’s administrative complaint with DHS—the department’s only mechanism for seeking redress—was filed by the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), the ACLU Border Litigation Project, Americans for Immigrant Justice (AI Justice), Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project (Esperanza), and the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project (Florence Project).

Children detained by CBP across the country have reported scores of examples of verbal, sexual and physical abuse; prolonged detention in squalid conditions; and a severe lack of essential necessities such as beds, food and water.

The complaint describes Border Patrol agents denying necessary medical care to children as young as five-months-old, refusing to provide diapers for infants, confiscating and not returning legal documents and personal belongings, making racially-charged insults and death threats, and strip searching and shackling children in three-point restraints during transport. Reports of such abuse have been documented and reported for years, but no reforms have been implemented, nor have any actions been taken to hold agents accountable.

Children referenced in the complaint, many of whom fled violence and persecution in their home countries, include:

• H.R., a seven-year-old boy, was severely developmentally disabled and suffering from acute malnourishment when he was apprehended, but CBP held him in custody for approximately five days without any medical treatment. He was eventually hospitalized and underwent emergency surgery.
• D.G., a 16-year-old girl, was detained with adults. When CBP officials searched D.G., they violently spread her legs and touched her genital area forcefully, making her scream.
• M.R., a 15-year-old girl, traveled from Guatemala with her two-year-old son. Both M.R. and her son became sick while in CBP custody, but M.R.’s requests for medical attention were ignored or dismissed for approximately five days, until she and her son were finally taken to a hospital.
• K.A., a 14-year-old girl, had her asthma medication confiscated by CBP officials and proceeded to suffer multiple asthma attacks in the filthy and overcrowded CBP holding cells. After the first asthma attack, officials threatened that they would punish her if she were faking.
• C.S., a 17-year-old girl, was detained in a hielera (freezer) in wet clothes. Her clothes did not dry for three and a half days due to the frigid temperature in the holding cell. The only drinking water available to C.S. came from the toilet tank, and the bathroom was situated in plain view of all other detainees with a security camera mounted in front of it.

“We have instances where CBP shackled 13- and 14-year-olds, infants became sick while held in cells maintained at freezing temperatures, and many children were held in CBP custody beyond the legal 72-hour period, without food or blankets,” said Erika Pinheiro, directing attorney for community education programs at Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project.

“Children are fleeing untenable conditions in their home countries, including pervasive violence and persecution, and are often re-victimized in transit to the United States,” said Joseph Anderson, director of litigation for Americans for Immigrant Justice. “We need to ensure that these children are treated with dignity and respect and afforded all applicable legal protections while they are in U.S. custody.”

The complaint’s recommendations include:

• Enhanced CBP oversight, including creation of an independent oversight body;
• Binding and enforceable short-term detention standards;
• Creation of a uniform complaint process at DHS that includes confidential, expedited processes by which children can safely report abuse and receive timely recourse;
• Adequate training for all officers who may encounter unaccompanied immigrant children;
• Timely investigation into the complaints of abuse;
• Accountability for any agent who violates the law and/or agency guidelines; and
• Publication of the results of any investigations.

The complaint was filed with the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties as well as the DHS Office of Inspector General. The complaint emphasizes that abuses of unaccompanied children by immigration officials have been documented and reported to DHS for years but the government has not implemented reforms or taken any action to hold agents accountable.

Click here to read the complaint.