LAS CRUCES, NM—Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights (RCBR), the ACLU Foundation of Texas (ACLU-TX), and the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) filed a complaint on behalf of thirteen border residents, urging the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to investigate abusive treatment by Office of Field Operations officers at ports of entry in El Paso, Texas and southern New Mexico. The complaint details officers’ use of excessive force, verbal abuse, humiliating searches and intimidation to coerce individuals into surrendering their legal rights. In multiple cases, border residents told the RCBR that CBP officers discouraged or failed to inform them of how to file a complaint. Continue reading

  FALFURRIAS — A non-profit in Brooks County is upset over $2,000 worth of missing property. Someone stole more than a dozen water stations meant for people who cross the border illegally. Continue reading

  By Ricard Marosi The tears begin flowing the moment the U.S. Border Patrol agents swing open the doors of the border enforcement zone, allowing Mexican families to step through and reunite with loved ones at the border fence near San Diego. Continue reading

  By Perla Trevizo SAHUARITA — Discussions about border issues often focus on the differences, but on Monday the goal was to find common ground. A group of Southern Arizona residents, city officials, ranchers, business owners and law enforcement officers gathered here for a congressional field hearing, “Life on the Border: Examining Border Security through the Eyes of Local Residents and Law Enforcement,” held by U.S. Rep. Martha McSally of Arizona and New Mexico Rep.Steve Pearce, both Republicans. Continue reading

  By Tatiana Sanchez A social justice organization will track alleged instances of mistreatment by federal border and immigration agents. The American Friends Service Committee’s U.S.-Mexico Border Program announced its nine-month Human Rights Documentation Campaign last week. The group will hire part-time staff to focus on administrative complaints involving law enforcement agencies, with a focus on border and immigration agencies. Continue reading

  Enforcement Should Follow International, Human Rights Standards (San Francisco) – A United States Border Patrol Agent who shot an unarmed Mexican child in the back across the border should not escape justice if the shooting was unlawful, Human Rights Watch said in a friend-of-the-court brief. Continue reading

  By John Wilkens This patch of American soil near Tijuana's Colonia Libertad was most famous illegal crossing spot on U.S.-Mexico border Jose Arias Martinez is 83 and has lived in Tijuana’s Colonia Libertad neighborhood for 40 years. He remembers when a patch of American soil a few hundred yards from his house was the busiest and most famous spot on the U.S.-Mexico border for illegal crossings. Every day, hundreds of migrants who were heading north for work gathered at dusk and waited for darkness before moving through the brush and up the canyons, into San Diego and points beyond. So many people used it as a staging ground that a marketplace emerged: Vendors in tarp-covered stalls sold food, clothes, shoes — even shots of tequila, said to be good for courage because the journey was risky. Bandits were in the nearby hills. Border Patrol agents were on the canyon rims.   Continue reading

  On Saturday, May 21st, Alliance San Diego invites you to a community conversation titled,"Black & Brown Families Unite: On the 6th Anniversary of Anastasio's Murder." This conversation sets the stage for Black and Brown Communities to address law enforcement abuse and over policing in our communities. Continue reading

  By Robert Gordon This past weekend thousands of activists across the United States took the streets for May Day in support of immigrants and workers’ rights. The 2016 Presidential election will have major implications for U.S. immigration policy for years to come, but moving past bombastic rhetoric about border walls and mass deportations, questions remain about what is politically possible and how much U.S. politicians are willing to alter their thinking on the issue. Read the full story here. 

  By Luisa Sausedo The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) did not participate in a campus job fair on Thursday, apparently after City College’s administration cancelled its invitation to do so after a Chicano group announced that it would protest the agency’s presence at school. Continue reading