Commissioners' Resolution 93-38. On Support for a Border Patrol Review Commission.

[Whereas, violence to individuals living near the border and to those attempting to cross the border comes from many sources. However, as U.S. citizens, we have the most responsibility for the violence perpetuated by our own law-enforcement personnel; and9491993

Whereas, the failure of the U.S. Border Patrol and Customs Service to perform their enforcement duties professionally and effectively creates unwarranted violence and abuse of U.S., Canadian, and Mexican citizens, and damages relations between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico; and9491993

Whereas, there are increasing reports of Border Patrol and Customs Service abuses, which include homicide and sexual abuse. The mission of the Border Patrol has increased, while its ability to perform its duties appropriately has diminished; and9491993

Whereas, the action of the U.S. Border Patrol often leads to selective enforcement of immigration law and often violent encounters between immigration law authorities and suspect individuals, not as isolated "exceptions" but as part of the law-enforcement system:9491993

• Selective enforcement: Individuals at border checkpoints, and in border communities—particularly Hispanics and people of color—are routinely stopped, searched, and forced to prove their citizenship status. Thus law enforcement is based on skin color, language, and culture—rather than "reasonable suspicion."9491993

• Temporary detention: Temporary detention or false arrest often takes place in circumstances involving arrests for other infractions of the law. Often this leads to use of force by or against an officer. On many occasions, these have been the cause of major Border Patrol-southern community clashes.9491993

• Use of deadly force: Use of deadly force by the Border Patrol has the greatest impact. The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General report on INS Firearms Policy, September 1991, reported ninety shooting incidents in 1990. The INS reported five civilians killed, six wounded, and two agents wounded. There was no review of any of these incidents by the INS Firearms Board. The pattern has intensified since then.9491993

• These shooting incidents, and the coverup or lack of investigation of them, show that agents routinely violate all professional law-enforcement standards on the use of firearms regarding firing warning shots and firing at fleeing persons.9491993

• High-speed chases: Equally dangerous are highspeed chases by the Border Patrol. In California alone, high-speed chases by the Border Patrol resulted in 35 deaths and 225 injured in 1991. • Treatment of juveniles: An increasing number of undocumented persons are juveniles, often unaccompanied by other family members. They are the most vulnerable to abuse and serious body injury. Including death, during custody and transportation. They are also vulnerable to emotional damage caused by abduction and detention by INS. In Omaha, Nebraska, two children were taken from their school, and held without contact with their parents until community response demanded their release. (These clauses taken from material written by Maria Jiminez, Immigration Law Enforcement Monitoring Project, American Friends Service Committee, El Paso, Texas); and]9491993

Whereas, the Presbyterian church has called for justice for immigrants in two major policy documents: in 1981, General Assemblies of both the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. passed the "Mexican Migration to the United States: Challenge to Christian Witness and National Policy"; and the 202nd General Assembly (1990) passed the "Response to the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986"; and9491993

Whereas, numerous investigations of the U.S. Border Patrol by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Americas Watch, and other groups and news media have documented wholesale violations of the rights of citizens and noncitizens alike, including 635 civil rights complaints filed against Border Patrol agents since .1989; and9491993

Whereas, these abuses have taken place for generations based on color of skin, or "foreign appearance." The U.S. Border Patrol often bases suspicion on "walking down a known route of travel, wearing clothes of Mexican-made fabric, or, given the Third World health and diet, having a generally thin or sickly appearance" (Stephen L. Williams, deputy chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, El Paso, Texas, as quoted in February 23, 1993, Wall Street Journal, "High School in El Paso Gives the Border Patrol a Civil Rights Lesson"); and9491993

Whereas, communities of U.S. citizens and legal residents are too intimidated to register complaints due to the possibility of random deportations; and9491993

Whereas, the current system for considering complaints is unwieldy and allows most individuals limited access; and9491993

Whereas, H.R. 2119, "To establish an Immigration Enforcement Review Commission" has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives and endorsed by9491993

the Hispanic Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill, which does not change current immigration law, provides an independent system of civilian review boards similar to those used with many local law-enforcement agencies; therefore, be it9501993

Resolved, That the 205th General Assembly (1993) of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)9501993

1. endorse the creation of an Immigration Enforcement Review Commission for independent investigation of complaints against the Border Patrol, as provided in H.R. 2119;9501993

2. direct the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly to communicate these actions to the Hispanic Caucus and all members of the U.S. House of Representatives;9501993

3. call upon the governing bodies and congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to9501993

a. become more educated about the conditions on the U.S. border and about concerns regarding the US. Border Patrol, using the background packet from the Justice in Immigration Network and other sources already present; and9501993