ARIZONA DAILY STAR (original story)

Published: 10.19.2008

NOGALES — Yellow sheets of paper with the underlined words "Atencion Migrante" are taped to the windows of holding cells at the Border Patrol's processing center in Nogales.

In Spanish, they say: if you are hungry, thirsty, in need of medical care, have been a victim of physical or sexual abuse, or been a witness to a crime, tell a Border Patrol agent.

The Border Patrol points to the notices — put up in response to requests from immigrant advocates — as an example of their efforts to ensure that the 300,000-plus illegal immigrants who pass through processing centers in Arizona each year are treated well.

Advocates, however, say what's not on the signs shows what's wrong with the federal agency's short-term custody. They don't tell illegal immigrants what to do if they have been abused by a Border Patrol agent, if the cells are overcrowded, too hot or too cold, or if they've been separated from family members. And they provide no way for a detainee to make an anonymous complaint about an agent.

A new report from the Tucson-based human-rights group No More Deaths alleges systematic mistreatment in the Border Patrol processing centers, including: the denial of food, water and medical treatment; physical and verbal abuse; separation of families; and the failure to return belongings.

No More Deaths gathered anecdotes of abuse over the last two years from illegal immigrants who came through aid stations the group operates in Sonora on the Mexican side of the border in Nogales, Naco and Agua Prieta.

The Border Patrol denies the claims and there are no internal or external reports that either dismiss or validate the allegations.

Neither the Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General nor the U.S. Government Accountability Office have looked into the matter.

"Short-term custody is the black hole," said Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, coordinator of the Binational Migration Institute at the University of Arizona.

All apprehended illegal immigrants pass through the processing centers before officials determine their next destination. Some are sent to long-term detention centers and the majority are granted voluntary returns to Mexico.

Allegations short on specifics

Border Patrol Tucson Sector Chief Robert W. Gilbert said the criticisms are unfair, adding the report is based on unfounded allegations that can't be investigated because they lack specifics.

He said the agency is constantly policing itself and foreign consulates are also in the centers daily. Additionally, there are plenty of ways for complaints to be lodged: to an agent, to a consulate official, or anonymously through a 1-800 number that Gilbert said is easily accessible.

"It's not cloak-and-dagger — it's there," said Gilbert, who became Tucson Sector chief in March 2007. "There have been many different groups come in and tour our facilities. This is not behind the black curtain."

Oversight, transparency

In the last two years, the Government Accountability Office has issued reports on medical standards and telephone access problems in long-term detention facilities operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And DHS's Office of the Inspector General has studied detainee deaths and oversight at the Customs-run detention centers.

Neither entity, however, has evaluated anything regarding the Border Patrol-run processing centers and for now has no plans to do so, said Rich Stana, director of homeland security issues at the Government Accountability Office, and Inspector General spokeswoman Marty Metelko.

The dearth of oversight angers advocates.

"It's unconscionable and unacceptable that there is no oversight of short-term treatment," said Shura Wallin, a member of the Green Valley Samaritans.

"There has been no oversight, no accountability, no investigation. It's very troubling," said Walt Staton, spokesman for No More Deaths.

Gilbert said he would welcome an in-depth review of the practices in short-term processing centers.

"If there is something wrong, of course we want to know about it so we can take corrective action," Gilbert said.

Lack of clear guidelines

Advocates also criticize the lack of clear guidelines for the processing centers. The Border Patrol has a book of guidelines for short-term detention centers that is delivered and explained to every agent, said Jason Ciliberti, a Border Patrol spokesman at headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The guidebook is not available to the public, however, because it is an internal document, he said.

The Arizona Daily Star's request to see a copy of the guidelines was denied and a Freedom of Information Act request has not yet been answered.

Gilbert said the document contains law-enforcement-sensitive materials.

"Having policies that aren't public is fairly common. We don't publicize everything we do," Gilbert said.

Keeping the standards internal stands in contrast to at least two other federal agencies that operate detention centers. Immigration and Customs Enforcement posts the standards for long-term detention facilities on its Web site, as does the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Mexican Consulate officials do not have a copy of the policy, either, said Alejandro Ramos Cardoso, head of the Department of Protection at the Mexican consulate in Tucson. They work on a basic understanding of the rules, such as illegal immigrants are not supposed to be there for longer than 24 hours.

The consulate has an office in the Nogales processing center during the summer months when apprehended illegal immigrants from four stations are funneled through, and it sends officials to visit smaller, regional processing centers through the rest of the year. The majority of illegal immigrants, though, pass through without requesting to speak with consulate officials, Ramos said.

While the Mexican Consulate is generally satisfied with the Border Patrol treatment of its citizens in the processing centers, it acknowledges the No More Deaths report features several complaints it often hears, Ramos said.

"I don't think they are unfounded," Ramos said.

Station at border offers support

At the Mariposa port of entry in west Nogales, Wackenhut buses under contract to DHS arrive throughout the day, stopping in the southbound lane a few hundred feet north of the official line marking the U.S.-Mexican border.

Illegal immigrants file out of the buses with backpacks or plastic bags in hand. They walk along a sidewalk and through an opening in a chain link fence, back into Mexico.

Under a red tent, there is an aid station run binationally by the Sonoran State Commission for the Care of Migrants and Tucson-based No More Deaths and the Tucson and Green Valley Samaritans that offers the returned illegal immigrants food, water, coffee, socks, medical attention, orientation and half-priced bus fare to return to their homes.

It's here, and at similar aid stations in Naco and Agua Prieta, where volunteers with No More Deaths documented stories of abuse and mistreatment in conversations with illegal immigrants over the past two summers.

Recently, Sonoran officials say, a man arrived at the aid station with a gash and bruise above his eye. He told them a Border Patrol agent had kicked him during an apprehension in the desert. He did not file a formal complaint, though, they said.

No More Deaths representatives say the Border Patrol creates an environment that discourages complaints.

"What migrant in their right mind is going to ask for more abuse by asking to file a complaint?" Staton said.

The situation is compounded because illegal immigrants usually stay a few hours in the processing centers and don't want to delay their next step — whether that be trying again or heading home — by traveling to Tucson to be interviewed by a Homeland Security Office of Inspector General representative.

Case in point: the Mexican consulate in Nogales received 24 complaints of abuse from illegal immigrants from January through September, consulate officials said. Only one of the immigrants decided to travel to Tucson to file a formal complaint with the Border Patrol.

On StarNet: Keep up with border news and read special reports about immigration at azstarnet.com/border

officials say immigrants receive care

Nogales — More than 30 women, and a few of their children, munch on crackers and drink small boxes of juice as they sit on wooden benches in a holding cell enclosed by thick glass and a heavy door. Packages of instant chili lie on the floor and on top of benches.

Some women lie down on the benches, or on top of green blankets or inflatable mattresses on the cement floor. A small toilet and sink with potable water sits behind a block partition in the corner.

Separate holding cells for men and unaccompanied minors look basically the same. In the middle of the center, agents take fingerprints and pictures and sit behind computers. Other agents usher in newly arrived groups, giving them yellow tickets with numbers in exchange for their belongings.

Border Patrol officials take special exception to the claims they deny illegal immigrants basic necessities such as food, water and medical care. They give each person that comes through crackers and juice upon their arrival and meals at set times, such as instant chili on this day. They even have formula for babies, said Gustavo Soto, a Border Patrol spokesman in the Tucson Sector. Anyone in need of medical care is treated on-site by emergency medical technicians or taken to a hospital if necessary, Soto said.

"What we always say and we stand by it: When they leave, they are in 100 percent better condition than when they came in," Soto said.

What chafes Tucson Sector Chief Robert W. Gilbert is that the reports fails to mention the money and hours devoted to the agency's search, trauma and rescue team, Borstar, which conducts rescues across the desert. Their work has been a factor in the decrease this year in the number of bodies found by the Border Patrol, he said.

The allegations don't make sense, Gilbert says, considering that nearly half of the Border Patrol's work force is Hispanic and understands that not every person they apprehend is a hardened criminal.

"We recognize and understand that the 90 percent of the individuals we are dealing with are fleeing Mexico, Central America, South America, wherever, for economic reasons," Gilbert said. "It doesn't make them bad people. However, when they have come into the country illegally, they have broken the law — that's why the are arrested."

"Why on one hand would we be out there in such a humanitarian posture and then go off and mistreat people," Gilbert said. "It's not the way the Border Patrol works, it's not the way Border Patrol agents work."