{"id":40142,"date":"2024-08-28T09:13:35","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T13:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=40142"},"modified":"2024-08-28T09:16:50","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T13:16:50","slug":"cronkite-news-new-policy-bars-border-agents-from-trashing-personal-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/08\/28\/cronkite-news-new-policy-bars-border-agents-from-trashing-personal-property\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: New policy bars border agents from trashing personal property"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\r\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7uCed2Ig8nM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\"> ACLU of Arizona: <a href=https:\/\/youtu.be\/7uCed2Ig8nM>&#8220;I Had Nothing&#8221; \u2014 A Story of Property Confiscation at the Hands of Border Patrol<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\">After scathing GAO report, Border Patrol agents ordered to stop tossing out migrants\u2019 belongings<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Wednesday, August 28, 2024<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"byline\">By Mia Osmonbekov<\/div>\r\n<DIV class=source>Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n<DIV class=source-website><A \r\nhref=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/\">cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nWASHINGTON, D.C. &#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbp.gov\">U.S. Customs and Border Protection<\/a> has directed agents to stop discarding migrants\u2019 personal belongings, after a scathing report detailing how medicine, clothes, cell phones, cash and identity documents have been taken by authorities at holding facilities and never returned.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nThe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbp.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2024-08\/cbp_directive_no._5240-010.pdf\">new rules<\/a> classify legal documents, contact information and religious items as \u201cessential personal property\u201d that cannot be stripped from migrants. Phones, cash, medical documents and items of sentimental value must be stored, with migrants given written instructions on how to retrieve their belongings.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nIn April, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/products\/gao-24-106540\">Government Accountability Office issued a report<\/a> affirming long- standing complaints from migrants and their advocates, and documented hundreds of instances of migrants losing birth certificates, cash and clothing.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nIn some Border Patrol sectors, migrants have been allowed to keep no more than could fit into a small plastic bag, according to GAO, with the rest of their possessions discarded.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/08\/28\/cronkite-news-new-policy-bars-border-agents-from-trashing-personal-property\/borderpatrol\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-40144\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1283\" data-attachment-id=\"40144\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/08\/28\/cronkite-news-new-policy-bars-border-agents-from-trashing-personal-property\/borderpatrol\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/28\/borderpatrol.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2048,1283\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"U.S. Customs and Border Protection\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;U.S. Customs and Border Protection&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Migrants are placed in holding facilities in the United States before they are sent across the border to Mexico. Photo courtesy U.S. Customs and Border Protection&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/28\/borderpatrol.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/28\/borderpatrol.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. Customs and Border Protection\"   class=\"size-full wp-image-40144\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Migrants are placed in holding facilities in the United States before they are sent across the border to Mexico. Photo courtesy U.S. Customs and Border Protection<\/figcaption>\r\n<P><\/P>The American Civil Liberties Union celebrated the changes Tuesday, though Noah Schramm, the ACLU of Arizona\u2019s border policy strategist, said he remains concerned because the rules don\u2019t explicitly ensure that migrants get their belongings back when they\u2019re moved to another facility or released.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nAnd, he said, some might have to travel hundreds of miles back to the holding facility to exercise their rights.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cThe risk there is that Border Patrol field locations will interpret the directive to only require that these belongings are stored, but not that they are physically returned to people on release,\u201d he said. \u201cYou could imagine scenarios where Border Patrol field locations decide to hold people\u2019s property back, and only give that (back to) people who are willing to make the often long journey back.\u201d\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nIn February, the ACLU and a coalition of immigrant advocacy groups, including Arizona-based ProtectAZ Health and  The Kino Border Initiative, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kinoborderinitiative.org\/new-report-from-hope-to-heartbreak\/\">released a report<\/a> asserting that CBP policies \u201csystematically fail to ensure humane treatment of migrants and their belongings,\u201d citing hundreds of instances in which authorities confiscated medicine, clothing, phones and money.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<div class=row><div class=col-8>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/28\/final_reduced_sized_020724_propertyconfiscationreport.pdf\" class=\"pdfemb-viewer\" style=\"\" data-width=\"max\" data-height=\"max\" data-toolbar=\"both\" data-toolbar-fixed=\"on\">From Hope to Heartbreak: The Disturbing Reality of Border Patrol&#8217;s Confiscation of Migrants&#8217; Belongings<\/a>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Report: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kinoborderinitiative.org\/new-report-from-hope-to-heartbreak\/\">From Hope to Heartbreak: The Disturbing Reality of Border Patrol&#8217;s Confiscation of Migrants&#8217; Belongings<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nThe CBP directive reflects GAO recommendations to improve the handling of personal belongings and give migrants clear instructions on how to retrieve their stored items.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nUnder the directive, CBP \u201cwill allow detainees to keep as much of their personal property as their facility\u2019s physical capacity, safety considerations, transportation limitations, and personal availability allow.\u201d\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nFilthy clothing and other items deemed a health hazard may still be discarded.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nMigrants have complained that border agents have been overly aggressive in enforcing the health hazard provision.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nGAO cited an incident in which an agent took the backpacks and clothes from a group of migrants on grounds the items \u201ccould be soiled,\u201d rather than assessing the actual condition of the items.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<div class=\"h5-responsive sub\">Government Accountability Office Report<\/div>\r\n<a href=https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/products\/gao-24-106540>Southwest Border:\r\nAdditional Guidance and Monitoring Needed to Improve CBP&#8217;s Handling of Personal Property<\/a> (GAO-24-106540)\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<STRONG>For more stories from Cronkite News, visit <A href=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/?utm_source=referral&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=client\">cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A>.<\/STRONG>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<HR><EM>Note: This story originally <a href=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/2024\/08\/27\/new-cbp-policy-bars-border-patrol-tossing-out-migrants-possessions\/\">appeared on Cronkite News<\/a>.  It  is published via a <A href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">Creative  Commons license<\/A>. Cronkite News is produced by the <A href=\"https:\/\/cronkite.asu.edu\/\">Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication<\/A> at <A href=\"https:\/\/www.asu.edu\">Arizona State University<\/A>.<\/EM><HR>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has directed agents to stop discarding personal belongings of migrants following criticism of the government&#8217;s practices.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1,23],"tags":[45,5291,46,386,697],"class_list":["post-40142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law","category-national","category-world","tag-borders","tag-cbp","tag-cronkite-news","tag-gao","tag-immigration","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/28\/borderpatrol.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-ars","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40142"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40155,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40142\/revisions\/40155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}