A-Infos (en) Amnesty International Accuses Border Patrol ...

[Tom Burghardt <tburghardt@igc.apc.org>]

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          AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ACCUSES BORDER PATROL
                   OF VIOLATING HUMAN RIGHTS
_________________________________________________________________
 
     By Niko Price, Associated Press, 05/19/98 22:40
 
     MEXICO CITY (AP) - Amnesty International issued a broad
condemnation of the U.S. Border Patrol on Tuesday, saying
detainees - including U.S. citizens - are beaten, raped and
mistreated.
   
     The report, based on an investigation conducted in September
1997, did not try to quantify the problem, saying only that
numerous cases indicated that agents of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service believed themselves to be above the law.
   
     ``There is credible evidence that persons detained by the
INS have been subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,
including beatings, sexual assault, denial of medical attention,
and denial of food, water and warmth for long periods,'' Amnesty
said in the report, scheduled to be released in the United States
on Wednesday.
   
     The report detailed many examples in which people detained
by border agents said they were mistreated.
   
     The London-based human rights group said that despite
pledges by the Border Patrol to institute an efficient complaints
process, many detention centers were not equipped with the proper
forms for detainees to file complaints.
   
     As the number of border patrol agents rises quickly, Amnesty
said, the risk of institutional violations of human rights will
increase. The group noted that the number of agents who handle
complaints has not risen as fast as the number of agents in
general.
   
     Only 1 percent of complaints lead to prosecution, Javier
Zuniga, director of Amnesty's Americas Regional program, said at
a news conference.
   
     He said the goal of Amnesty's report is to generate public
pressure on the Immigration and Naturalization Service to better
investigate complaints by detainees.
   
     The investigation was carried out by an Amnesty investigator
from London, who traveled from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas,
in September 1997, a trip of about 3,000 miles.
   
     She interviewed human rights groups, lawyers, immigrant
advocacy groups and Border Patrol officials along the way, Zuniga
said.
   
     The president of Amnesty's Mexico office, Agnieszka
Raczynska, said the report was the first in a series that will be
presented through October on human rights violations in the
United States, a country she said Amnesty often was accused of
not condemning forcefully enough.
 
     Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
 
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