SEATTLE - Migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Rio Grande have experienced some cases of verbal and physical abuse by U.S. federal authorities near El Paso.
That is according to the grassroots organization called the Border Network for Human Rights, one of the leading immigration reform and human rights advocacy organizations in the U.S. The group says it has documented cases in which authorities call immigrants "rats" as well as physical abuse such as chocking migrants with the straps of a backpack.
"We began looking into this after people came to us with complaints. We put together a report showing that Texas Guard soldiers are physically and verbally assaulting refugee families and depriving them of their right to petition for asylum by (wielding) lethal and non-lethal weapons at them," said Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights.
Degrading insults as well as the use of excessive force have been on the rise. According to one of the migrants' testimonies, quoted verbatim by the groups on a projection slide alleges soldiers in a van began to follow a family of asylum seekers.
"They got out of the van and began to attack us, saying, 'You thought you got what you wanted, you f—- bastards. You're going to go back the way you came in because this is my country and here we make the rules and here the laws are respected," the testimony said.
"You are illegals who do nothing but spend the money of those of us who pay taxes, you are worthless here. You are f—- rats and you are going back through the hole you came in."
Despite being contacted by Border Report for comment, Gov. Greg Abbott's office, his reelection campaign and the Texas Military Department are yet to respond.
Abuse towards migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border is nothing new. Last year, a joint report conducted by Washington Office on Latin America and Kino Border Initiative identified persistent human rights abuses, misuse of lethal force, intimidation and even sexual harassment cases by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.
In 2020 alone, KBI received 442 reports of alleged abuse by U.S. agents, meaning that 18% of new arrivals had experienced abuse by a U.S. authorities, the report says.
The authors argue that abuses keep coming "because impunity is so likely." In one of the filed complaints, a migrant alleges agents used a four-wheel vehicle to him and to run over his leg.
Earlier this year, the HuffPost released documents that showed Border Patrol agents, and in some cases even supervisors, using derogatory terms against migrants and asylum seekers over emails and texts.
According to WOLA's database of reports, Border Patrol employees described migrants as "tonks", a term reportedly derived from the sound their utility flashlights make when hitting a migrant's head. In the emails obtained by the HuffPost thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, agents also referred to them as "an influx of rats" coming from "whatamala, el salvado, and hondodas."
Notable instances of abuse include an August 2024 case in Eagle Pass where tear gas was fired at a group of Venezuelan migrants, including children. Other reports have documented physical abuse, verbal threats, and migrants being forcibly pushed back into Mexico. In several cases, migrants have been injured by razor wire or denied access to basic necessities like water in extreme heat, the report adds.
"These incidents must be investigated, the Texas National Guard must be held accountable for their actions," said Danny Woodward, staff attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project. "As the Texas Legislature starts hearings on the border in the upcoming legislative session, we call on lawmakers to confront state leaders with these stories of abuse and demand an end to this violence."
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