Suit Follows Year of Complaints and Lawsuits to Stop Abuses along the Border
Photo by Josh Denmark
EL PASO, TX – Agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB), working with medical professionals, subjected a U.S. citizen to a series of highly invasive searches—including rectal and vaginal probes—without a warrant, according to charges in a lawsuit filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas and the ACLU of New Mexico.
CBP agents frisked and strip-searched the plaintiff at a border checkpoint, then transported her in handcuffs to the University Medical Center of El Paso, where doctors subjected her to an observed bowel movement, X-ray, speculum exam, rectal exam, vaginal exam, and a CT scan. After a period of six hours of fruitless searches, the agents released the plaintiff without charge.
“What is truly frightening about this incident is that it could have happened to anyone,” said ACLU-NM Legal Director Laura Schauer Ives. “The failed drug war and militarized border region have created an environment in which law enforcement officials increasingly inflict extreme and illegal searches on innocent Americans. We need to ensure that no one is ever again subjected to a nightmare like our client suffered.”
The plaintiff, a 54 year old woman from New Mexico, was attempting to return to the U.S. from Mexico via a bridge in El Paso. She is deeply traumatized by the cavity searches government agents forced her to endure and continues to suffer emotional and psychological after effects.
“Securing the border has become an excuse for outright abandonment of Constitutional principles that protect our privacy and dignity,” said Adriana Piñon, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas. “Enough is enough. The hand of the government should never have unfettered power to invade our most intimate bodily spaces.”
The suit comes as the nation debates a “border surge” that would further militarize border communities despite strong criticism of increased civil rights abuses along the border. ACLU affiliates and other civil rights advocates along the Southwest border have challenged a pattern of unlawful conduct by local and federal law enforcement personnel this year:
- In November, 2013 an Albuquerque civil rights law firm filed suit after Deming, NM police officers subjected a man pulled over during a routine traffic stop to three enemas, two anal probes, and a colonoscopy—finding no drugs.
- In October 2013, the ACLU of Texas filed suit on behalf of a disabled U.S. citizen who was physically abused when she questioned a CPB official’s search of her purse.
- In March 2013, ten damages cases were filed alleging unlawful CBP conduct by an alliance of immigrant advocacy groups, private attorneys, and a law school clinic.
Attorneys with the ACLU of Texas and ACLU of New Mexico represent the plaintiff in the suit filed today. Because of the sensitive nature of the allegations, the suit was filed under a pseudonym.
View the complaint filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, El Paso Division: https://www.aclu-nm.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Complaint-Jane-Doe-v-Various-Defendants-12-18-13.pdf
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Thank you for all the work you are doing on behalf of the plaintiff in this case.
I just wanted you to know that the agency you are suing is correctly called “U.S. Customs and Border Protection,” not “the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.” Also, although U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has within it the Office of the Border Patrol, which has “Border Patrol Agents,” those “agents” do not patrol official border crossings. Official border crossings, like the one through which the plaintiff crossed, are staffed by personnel from CBP’s Office of Field Operations (OFO). The CBP “agents” you are suing are actually titled CBP “officers.” Likewise, their supervisors are “Supervisory CBP Officers,” “Chief CBP Officers,” “Assistant Area Port Directors,” “Area Port Directors,” and Directors of Field Operations,” in that order. I happen to know all of this, because I am a CBP employee.
Anyway, I wish you success with this lawsuit. Most of us in CBP really are trying to keep the country safe, from violent criminals, dangerous products, and agricultural pests. Alas, until the laws change, we are also tasked with fighting the “drug war.”
I just heard the interview about this on NPR’s On The Media and I just want to say I am appalled and enraged by this. I was wondering if there are any related actions (petitions, protests, letter campaigns, etc.) in progress to seek legislation barring this. And if so could we get a link to information about that?
I was so horrified to hear about this sexual assault on “On the Media” that it has been disturbing me ever since. The plaintiff was offered an opportunity to sign a consent form for her own sexual assault–imagine! And in a move reminiscent of Iran’s habit of billing family members or executed prisoners for the bullets used, the fact that she refused to sign the consent form was used as an excuse to allow the hospital to bill the victim–$6000–for her own sexual assault. A nurse told the plaintiff that this kind of assault was routine, and I see that the ACLU is handling a case in which a man was a victim. There is one person who can stop this from recurring–the President of the United States. I therefore recommend a petition be started on Whitehouse.gov, but I would like the opinion of the ACLU before attempting to write one. Also, I see no reason why the doctor who performed all the procedures shouldn’t have his license to practice medicine revoked–he is under no obligation to perform such procedures. His only defense would be if the border patrol misled him to believe that there was probable cause. How any medical professional could force procedures on an unwilling participant chained to the table, with the door open and many people watching, without a warrant being issued is beyond me.
This is a correction to my name and e-mail address.
I found myself sick with disbelief when I heard this on “On The Media.” Like many people I’m sure, my heart goes out to the victim. What a sickening nightmare for her. May the lawsuit bring the CBP & the El Paso medical center where this happened, right down to their knees.