Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has become the epicenter of some of the greatest horrors of the past four years, embodied in stories that, so far, cannot be forgotten.
Among these stories, he mentions the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), are those of children crying breathlessly after being separated by their parents at the border, or of little ones sleeping in cages on the ground in the open air.
Perhaps the cruelest of all is the photograph of a girl desperately clinging to her father's neck with her arm around him, who ended up drowning on the side of the Rio Bravo as they tried to cross to the United States.
The disturbing image has generated comparisons with other photos, such as that of the death of Aylan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Syrian boy who drowned in 2015 when his family was trying to reach a shrine in Greece; or that of Omran Daqneesh, 5, when he was wounded in an air raid in Aleppo.
Just as these images focused the world's attention on the humanitarian crisis in Syria and Turkey, the intense image of the little girl and her father drowned in the Rio Bravo was a stark reminder of the human cost of the migration crisis.
Cuando el presidente electo Joe Biden asuma el cargo en enero próximo, refiere ACLU, debe asegurarse de que este tipo de abusos nunca vuelvan a ocurrir, así como de erradicar el clima de propagación de miedo en la frontera, que ha excusado la crueldad y ha enfrentado al abuso con impunidad.
While the new administration is contemplating how to fund the Department of Homeland Security's management in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will also have to focus on significantly cutting the budget of the Customs and Border Protection agency.
The federal agency is one of the largest in the country, with some 45,600 sworn officers and agents, along with a budget of more than $17 billion for both Border Patrol and port of entry operations.
Despite its size, the Department of Homeland Security stated in 2019 that 40 percent of CBP resources were being absorbed by an "unprecedented increase" in the number of families fleeing Central American countries, and it was unable to manage other border security missions.
Thus, for the ACLU, CBP should have no role in the detention of individuals beyond a short processing period, since, in the last two years, at least seven children died in CBP custody or shortly after their release, because they received late or no medical care at all.
CBP should also be removed from the asylum process, as it has been found to have confiscated crucial personal documents or lied on government forms, and should not make decisions about how and when to separate families arriving at the border.
Also, adds the ACLU, reforms are needed to address CBP's culture of impunity for abuse, including the death of people at the hands of CBP, since, since January 2010, at least 117 people, including some US citizens, have died following encounters with CBP.
As Biden's transition team contemplates a new model for receiving asylum seekers, it should also develop alternatives for detaining them.
Similarly, stricter standards are needed to limit CBP's use of lethal force, require agency officials to keep their credentials visible, and use body cameras. As well as a complaint mechanism that is accessible online, a uniform process for reviewing and investigating abuse and ensuring that CBP personnel are held accountable for inhumane treatment.
Accountability will require more than the appointment of new leadership, concludes the ACLU, but will require a rebalancing and recalculation of the role of CBP.
