Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Border Patrol Chief Retires After End of Title 42

Chief Rauk Ortiz, head of the U.S. Border Patrol, is retiring after seeing through to the end of Title 42 restrictions. “I leave at ease, knowing we have a tremendous uniformed and professional workforce, strong relationships with our union partners, and outstanding leaders who will continue to tirelessly advocate for you each day,” Ortiz said. […]

8-Year-Old Girl Dies in Border Patrol Custody in Texas

The girl’s mother said agents repeatedly ignored her pleas to hospitalize her daughter, who had a history of heart problems and sickle cell anemia. Anadith Tanay Reyes Alvarez was born in Panama with congenital heart disease. “She cried and begged for her life, and they ignored her. They didn’t do anything for her,” stated Mabel […]

Michigan border patrol agents accused of racially profiling Latinos

Two House Democrats demand answers from the Biden administration after a recent report accused Border patrol agents in Michigan of targeting Latino residents from 2012 to 2019. The two representatives, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan have asked Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to address the “serious allegations of discrimination by Michigan […]

18% of migrant families leaving Border Patrol custody tested positive for COVID-19

According to a document prepared to brief President Biden  more than 18% of migrant families and 20% of unaccompanied minors recently crossed the U.S. border tested positive for COVID-19 on leaving Border Patrol custody over the past 2-3 weeks. Multiple flights scheduled to deport migrants had more than 25% of passengers test positive before departure, […]

Audio from migrant detention facilities reveals sexual assault by staff

New audio from inside a U.S. government shelter for unaccompanied migrant children in Fort Bliss, Texas, reveals allegations of sexual misconduct by staff toward minors, acknowledgement the children were running low on clean clothes and shoes as well as a reluctance by officials to make public the scope of the facility’s COVID-19 outbreak. In the […]

Latino Democrats demand flu vaccines for migrants after the death of a 16-year-old boy in Border Patrol custody

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) demanded yesterday that the Trump administration provide flu vaccines and enhanced medical care for detained migrants in the wake of revelations that a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy in Border Patrol custody died of the flu in May. “This is flu season that we’re going into, and the administration has decided not […]

Cuban asylum seeker apparently commits suicide while in ICE custody

A Cuban migrant died of an apparent suicide at a Louisiana detention center after spending months in detention while his immigration case played out in court, authorities said yesterday. Roylan Hernandez-Diaz, 43, died Tuesday at the Richwood Correctional Center in Richwood, Louisiana, ICE said in a statement. Hernandez-Diaz was found unresponsive in his cell and […]

House passes Democrat-backed measure to revamp medical screenings for migrants at the border

The House passed a measure yesterday that would revamp medical screenings for migrants in the custody of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The Democrat-backed bill, which passed in a 230-184 vote, would establish timelines for medical screenings and improve overall health standards. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Fred Upton (Mich.) were the only Republicans to vote in favor of […]

U.S. Citizen released from ICE custody after 23 days

Francisco Erwin Galicia, a Dallas-born U.S. citizen, spent 23 days in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in conditions that made him so desperate he almost opted to self-deport. “It was inhumane how they treated us. It got to the point where I was ready to sign a deportation paper just to not […]

Children in detention centers allege sex assault in retaliation for protesting

The poor treatment of migrant children at the hands of U.S. border agents in recent months extends to include allegations of sexual assault and retaliation for protests, according to dozens of accounts by children held in Arizona. A 16-year-old Guatemalan boy held in Yuma, Arizona, said he and others in his cell complained about the taste […]