We found out a separated father hanged himself in a Texas jail because it was leaked to the Washington Post. Had the leak never occurred, would the public and lawmakers have ever found out?
My office represents the daughter of a woman who died in CBP custody following her arrest earlier this summer. The public has never heard of this death because CBP is currently under no legal obligation to disclose it. Cc: @RepCummings @KamalaHarris @RepJayapal @RepRaulGrijalva
How many more? When the son of another family we represent died a slow, agonizing death from meningitis after spending an illegally prolonged stint in CBP’s Ursula holding cage, a local ME’s office told me they don’t normally autopsy because these bodies are constantly coming in
How many more? The CBP serial killer reportedly used his service weapon to murder at least one of his victims. And that’s not why he was caught. In real law enforcement agencies, if you discharge your service weapon, you write a report. Not CBP. We don’t know who’s shooting.
Other LE folks along the border have told me over the years-since 2011/that the vast majority of bodies come in and receive basically no investigation as to cause of death, so long as it appears externally that they’ve starved, been dehydrated, or succumbed to the elements.
Bottom line: DHS and CBP are about to ask Congress for more money to continue operations. How many appropriators think these agencies should be able to answer this simple question before getting that $: How many people died in your physical or legal custody in FY18?
Regardless of our politics, we as a society should be able to agree that when a human being dies during an encounter with CBP, the agency should tell us who they are, how they died, and what might be done to prevent these deaths in the future. That’s not happening right now. /end
