Annotations for People: Sale-chris

I'm Maria Hinojosa. Lawmakers in Washington DC took up a bill introduced earlier this year by Democratic Representative Xavier Becerra of California. The measure would create an independent commission to oversee and investigate human rights abuses by the Border Patrol. Patricia Guadalupe reports from Washington.

The Independent Review Commission proposed by Democratic Representative Xavier Becerra of California would be in charge of investigating cases of alleged abuse within the ranks of the Border Patrol. According to the latest findings from the human rights group, America's Watch, cases of abuse by authorities along the US-Mexico border have increased dramatically. America's Watch says most incidents stem from a lack of adequate training and insensitivity on the part of Border Patrol agents. Becerra's proposed commission would review abuse cases and have the power to impose sanctions. It would also include substantial community outreach so people are aware of their rights when they file a complaint. Congressman Becerra says the current system is inadequate. Complaints take a long time to be investigated and then take years to complete. Even then, enforcement is minimal.

So you're talking about something that would take care of making sure that we have actual investigations and enforce investigation of abuse and then enforcement of any abuses of the law.

The new agency which would employ 10 commissioners appointed by President Clinton would cost $15 million. The Immigration and Naturalization Service, which manages the Border Patrol is completely against Becerra's idea. Chris Sale, acting INS Commissioner, calls us a waste of money in these hard economic times. She adds the INS is in the middle of proposing their own advisory board to include cooperation from the Mexican government.

The major distinction is that Congressman Becerra's bill would propose yet an additional governmental agency with a staff that would increase the numbers of entities working the system. And we would prefer, frankly, to let the IG and the Civil Rights Division continue to do their work because it's already being done and to establish a citizen's advisory panel, which would have a broader set of requirements, but also deal with the abuse issues directly for the Attorney General. It's really a matter of not having to further complicate things with more laws.

But Congressman Becerra says he's tired of advisory boards.

It's a good concept. It's unfortunate that it's coming so late and it's only a reaction to what's happened in the past. But again, a citizens' panel only has so much power. It does not have power to investigate. It does not have power to subpoena. It does not have power to institute some type of discipline against an employee who is found to have committed abuses. It does not have oversight capacity that will give it the ability to stop the abuse that has occurred in the past.

Congressman Becerra says he has a lot of support for his measure among his colleagues, but sources close to the committee considering his bill say they don't think it'll pass, as the current climate in Congress is against further spending and more government. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.