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News > Guatemala

US Gov't Settles Another Suit Against Border Patrol Sex Abuse

  • An undocumented women sits inside a U.S. border patrol boat at the Rio Bravo after trying to cross into the United States, in Piedras Negras, Mexico

    An undocumented women sits inside a U.S. border patrol boat at the Rio Bravo after trying to cross into the United States, in Piedras Negras, Mexico | Photo: Reuters

Published 20 February 2019
Opinion

The U.S. gov't agreed to pay US$125,000 in emotional and physical damages to a Guatemalan minor sexually molested by a border patrol agent in 2016.

A young Guatemalan women has settled with the United States government to receive US$125,000 in damages for being sexually assaulted by a U.S. detention center agent in July 2016, after she and her older sister, Clarita, turned themselves over to authorities while trying to enter Texas from Mexico.  

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The Guatemalan migrant, identified as JI to protect her identity, was 17 years old when she and her then 19-year old sister, Clarita, left her home and trekked through Mexico to the U.S. in July 2016. Traveling without documents, the two sisters became lost and dehydrated in the Texas summer desert so turned themselves in to border patrol agents who brought them to to a border patrol facility in Presidio, Texas, according to the Fresno Bee.

It was at the facility where one of the agents, Fernando Saucedo, sexually abused both of the sisters, including JI who was a minor at the time.

According to the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California on behalf of JI who was the only sister who pressed charges, the officer told the girl to undress and then proceeded to molest her.  

The ACLU settled the case Tuesday for JI who will receive US$125,000 in damages, a far cry from what the legal organization initially sought–US$1.5 million–$750,000 for each sister in March 2017. In March 2018 Clarita pulled out of the lawsuit.

Over the past decade the U.S. government has paid out approximately US$60 million in legal settlements over border patrol agent misconduct, according to The Guardian. The lawsuits and settlements involved deaths, driving injuries, alleged assaults and wrongful detention.

JI and Clarita were fleeing gang extortion and violence in Guatemala, and were attempting to reunite with their mother in Fresno, California when they trekked north in 2016.

Clarita told Univision that when she and her younger sister gave themselves up to border authorities: "We felt calmer because it was security, but they left us in a cell and left us alone with that agent."

She said in the interview: "(Saucedo) told me to take off my clothes and started to touch me. … I took off my sweater, then my shirt. I kept asking him why. Then I took off my tank top. He asked me to take off my bra, but I didn’t want to, so I loosened it so he could see inside,” Clarita told Univision.

“The officer then lifted her bra and began touching her breasts, she said. He told her to take off her underwear. “I asked why, and he said, ‘For security,’” said.

“What I never, never thought, was that it would be the same to my younger sister. ... She’s a child," Clarita said as she cried.

"We are pleased that our client receives compensation for the emotional and physical abuse inflicted on her by a Border Patrol agent," Angelica Salceda, the ACLU lawyer told Univision.

The sisters testified in court that the agent begged them to calm down after they were both crying uncontrollably after the incidences of abuse. He begged them not to tell anyone what happened. Saucedo denied all accusations at previous hearings but the court report indicates he "seemed nervous and distant" during his questioning.

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Despite the unprecedented sanction to the Border Patrol, the ACLU said he did not know if any disciplinary actions were imposed on the agent, and immigration authorities have only indicated in a brief statement that they can not comment on this type of lawsuit.

"Too often, immigrant children seeking refuge from trauma and abuse in their countries of origin suffer additional abuse at the hands of CBP (Customs and Border Control Office). These officers are not above the law, and abuses of power should not be tolerated," Salcedo told Univision.

Sexual assault and violence by the CBP toward migrant youth from Central America is nothing new.

According to a joint ACLU and University of Chicago report released in May 2018, since 2015 the ACLU alone “has obtained over 30,000 pages of records related to abuse of children in CBP custody” and indicate “a pattern of intimidation, harassment, physical abuse, refusal of medical services, and improper deportation between 2009 and 2014.


 

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