Neglect & Abuse of Unaccompanied Children by U.S. Customs and Border Protection

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (“CRCL”) is the agency within DHS that is, according to its own

website , responsible for “promoting respect for civil rights and civil liberties in policy creation and implementation,” and for “investigating and resolving civil rights and civil liberties complaints filed by the public.”


In response to our FOIA request, CRCL released approximately 4,600 pages of records, consisting of complaints submitted by legal service providers and immigrants’ rights advocates on behalf of migrant children detailing various forms of abuse. The CRCL records also consist of internal agency records documenting the limited investigations it undertook.


The International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago School of Law has written a report highlighting the experiences of migrant children (often asylum-seekers) who suffered verbal, physical, or sexual abuse from CBP officials. The appendix contains all of the original records cited in the report.


REPORT:

Neglect & Abuse of Unaccompanied Children by U.S. Customs and Border Protection


Appendix:

CRCL documents discussed in Report


1-Pager Summary:

English &

Spanish


For the full set of CRCL documents, please visit

http://bit.ly/cpbclcrdox

Records received from each DHS sub-agency can be accessed here:

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This lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) challenges the failure of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and several of its component agencies to produce records related to the abuse and mistreatment of children in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).