Rights Group Claims 149 Cases of Immigrant Abuse

Nearly 150 people have told a Quaker-led rights group that they suffered immigration-related abuses at the hands of the U.S. Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies in the San Diego area during a recent two-year period, the group said Friday.

The numbers indicate an upswing in abuses--particularly beatings and other physical mistreatment--and demonstrate the need for civilian review of such complaints, according to the Immigration Law Enforcement Monitoring Project, the Quaker organization that compiled the numbers.

“We don’t have any confidence in the way these allegations are currently being investigated,” Jorge Hinojosa, fieldwork coordinator in San Diego for the monitoring project, said during a news conference.

Gustavo De la Vina, chief Border Patrol agent in San Diego, disputed the validity of the numbers and repeated earlier statements that sufficient oversight was already in place, including routine internal patrol investigations and, in the case of shootings, inquiries by area police departments.

Allegations of abuse, De la Vina said, are currently subject to review by two independent Justice Department agencies--the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of Inspector General.

Last month, the chief noted, the patrol fired a three-year veteran of the force after the agent, who has not been publicly identified, was accused of using undue physical force against a smuggler in the northern San Diego area. Another agent, Michael Paul Ostrander, was suspended for 30 days without pay earlier this year for firing his weapon into a van filled with immigrants, striking two.

“I stand by the men and women of the San Diego Border Patrol sector,” said De la Vina, who noted that agents had recorded more than 800,000 arrests of undocumented immigrants during the two-year period studied by the rights group. “They face tremendous odds, every day and night, and they’re doing a fantastic job.”

The Quaker group’s computer-assisted study is part of an ongoing effort to compile documented evidence substantiating allegations of abuse. Organizers plan to disseminate the material to lawmakers and the media.

Most victims never report abuse, said Roberto Martinez, border representative in San Diego for the American Friends Service Committee, the social action group that oversaw the study. He cited a pervasive fear of the system.

In most of the 149 cases investigated, Hinojosa said, formal complaints have not been filed with the Border Patrol, FBI or other agencies. That is because of a lack of confidence in the agencies’ desire to conduct independent inquiries into the actions of fellow law enforcement officers, Hinojosa said.

Almost three-quarters of all abuses catalogued were commited by the Border Patrol, Hinojosa said, but other agencies--including the U.S. Customs Service, National Guard and local police forces--were also implicated.