老澳门开奖结果

A version of this blog originally ran at the .

鈥淵ou鈥檙e a whore.鈥�

That鈥檚 what a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer told 51-year-old grandmother Amanda Rodr铆guez, as she passed through the Ysleta port of entry in El Paso, Texas, for her weekly shopping trip to Wal-Mart.

Her ordeal began last September when the officer conducted a routine inspection as she crossed from Ciudad Ju谩rez to El Paso to run errands. At the port of entry, the agent made sexist comments about her looks and asked her leading questions about whether she was entering the U.S. to perform 鈥渇avors.鈥� Rodr铆guez, who was confused by the line of questioning, didn鈥檛 understand well enough to contradict the agent鈥檚 allegations that she was a sex worker.

鈥淎ndas de puta,鈥� the CBP officer aggressively told her, without any evidence to back up his claim: 鈥淵ou are a whore.鈥�

Mrs. Rodr铆guez is not, nor has she ever been a sex worker. With her husband of 33 years, Mrs. Rodr铆guez is a proud mother of two who, when not doting on her grandchild at home, works part-time for a community group that helps support women in Ciudad Ju谩rez seeking to escape domestic violence. But none of this mattered when things came to a head the following month.

As any woman knows, it鈥檚 scary to face unwanted advances from men in public. It is doubly frightening when unwanted advances come from an armed man who claims extraordinary power to pull you out of your car, detain you, and order you to be strip searched.

When Mrs. Rodr铆guez tried to cross into El Paso again in October to get her shopping done, CBP immediately pulled her aside and detained her for 10 hours. They falsely accused her of prostitution, threatened her with jail time, mocked her women鈥檚 rights work in Ciudad Ju谩rez, and coerced her into signing a document containing a falsified interrogation in English that she didn鈥檛 understand. They then told her that they had revoked her visa and that she would be barred from entering the United States for a period of five years.

Mrs. Rodr铆guez鈥� story is the 老澳门开奖结果 of New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights has urged the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General and CBP Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate yesterday.

The complaint details CBP officers at ports of entry in El Paso, Texas, and southern New Mexico engaging in widespread abuses, such as forcefully yanking a defenseless boy out of a vehicle; calling a noncitizen a 鈥渨etback鈥� and denying access to her diabetes medication; subjecting multiple men and women, two of them in their 50s, to humiliating strip searches without consent; and coercing individuals to accept swift deportations with long-term consequences that bypass the judicial process. In multiple cases, border residents reported that CBP officers discouraged them from complaining or failed to inform them how to file a complaint.

As a border resident, I myself have experienced misogynistic and unprofessional treatment at a port of entry. Last year, while I was waiting at the Bridge of the Americas in El Paso, a CBP officer tapped on my car window to pry into my relationship status and ask for my phone number. I politely declined, but then agonized as he continued to follow my car and peer inside. As any woman knows, it鈥檚 scary to face unwanted advances from men in public. It is doubly frightening when unwanted advances come from an armed man who claims extraordinary power to pull you out of your car, detain you, and order you to be strip searched.

Every day, more than 600,000 people nationwide lawfully the United States through land ports of entry to vacation, visit family, or shop. Cross-border commerce with , our top trade partner, state economies and one in 24 jobs nationwide. Rather than celebrate border communities鈥� economic contributions and unprecedented public , irresponsible rhetoric has led to a dramatic buildup of CBP enforcement without commensurate investment in oversight and accountability.

Scandalously, CBP officers who conduct themselves unprofessionally or otherwise abuse people are unlikely to face any sort of discipline. Peer law enforcement professionals, including a former top official at CBP, didn鈥檛 mince words when they recently , 鈥淭he CBP discipline system is broken.鈥� Indeed, a May 2012 complaint filed by 老澳门开奖结果 affiliates and detailing similar abuses at ports of entry border along the border went largely uninvestigated, fitting a pattern identified in a study based on hundreds of complaints that found 97 percent resulted in n.

CBP鈥檚 newly minted Office of Professional Responsibility has a real test before it to uproot a of impunity that has firmly taken hold in our nation鈥檚 largest police force. Failure to transparently and promptly investigate allegations undermines public confidence that CBP takes abuse seriously and does a disservice to officers who act professionally.

Ultimately, reforming CBP culture will require changing officers鈥� beliefs and potential biases, including those related to gender. When CBP officers dismiss women鈥檚 rights or act as if a badge empowers them to make unwanted advances, they offend our most basic understandings of equity.

The 老澳门开奖结果 stands with Amanda Rodr铆guez, and we will not allow CBP to strip any border resident of their dignity or due process. The clock is ticking on whether CBP will act on these serious complaints and begin to heal its broken trust in border communities.