Annotations for People: Lee-bruce 1940-1973

Allegations of abuse by the Border Patrol, customs, and immigration agents are often heard in many Latino communities, particularly along the U.S.-Mexico border. These widespread complaints have prompted several congressional leaders to call for the creation of a commission to investigate abuses by these federal agencies. From Washington. Patricia Guadalupe has more.

Cuando yo me miraron se aceleraron y me dijeon parate

Heriberto Arambula is a Mexican national who claims he was beaten up by the US Border Patrol while riding his bicycle in El Paso, Texas.

Me agarre la bicicleta me tumba para atras y el otro esta gringo parece Bruce Lee.

They grabbed me and threw me from my bicycle. One of the officers then jumped at me. He looked like Bruce Lee. Imagine. He sunk his boot into my chest that left the mark. They didn't ask me what I was doing or explain why they were after me, nothing. Only the beating and then to the police, then to the ambulance, then to the hospital, and that's all. [Spanish dubbed over]

It is because of this and many other complaints that legislation was introduced in Congress May 20th to create an independent commission that would oversee the Border Patrol. Currently, the Border Patrol is part of the immigration and naturalization service, which immigrant advocates say is inefficient and biased since it polices itself. Democratic representative Xavier Becerra of California is the chief sponsor of the commission bill in Congress.

We believe that you need independent review and that's the big change here. It's not dramatic, but what we're saying is let's get some serious activity in here because there are people who are being abused.

Congressman Becerra adds that the problem doesn't exist only among the undocumented along the border.

We're talking about US citizens, legal permanent residents who have been abused by the INS. And we have not only eyewitness testimony and firsthand testimony of people who've come, but we have court cases where we have had judicial decisions that show that people have been abused.

Former Consul General of Mexico in El Paso, Roberto Gamboa Mascarenas investigates many cases of alleged abuse by Border Patrol agents. Most recently, the violent deaths of three undocumented workers in Arizona and Texas. He said the commission would have the power to act on claims of abuses, something he says the system is not now set up to do.

It is the most fantastic and the most positive step that has ever been taken in favor of the human rights and the civil rights of many people in the border areas, not necessarily all Mexican, whose rights have been violated continuously by agents who, again, are unchecked, uncontrolled, and not disciplined whatsoever.

In its annual report released on the same day Becerra introduced this legislation, the human rights group, America's Watch, concludes that conditions at the border have not changed. Cases of abuses have risen, not fallen. Juan Mendez is executive director of America's Watch.

There's something wrong in the way abuses are referred to the proper authorities and investigated inside these agencies, both the Border Patrol and the customs administration.

Mendez says that creating an independent commission would alleviate the fear many have of coming forward when they have claims of abuse. When reached for comment, a spokesman for the INS said they would follow whatever directive the Congress and Attorney General Janet Reno handed down. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.