Immigration Attorneys File Civil Rights Complaint Against Border Patrol Agents Acting As Interpreters

A Seattle-based immigrant advocacy nonprofit filed a formal civil rights complaint against the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, challenging the practice of local police departments calling in border patrol agents to act as interpreters in routine matters.

As part of the complaint, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) also released a damning video which they claim was recorded last February. It allegedly depicts border patrol agents calling undocumented immigrants "all wet," (at the 2:25 mark in the below video) a derogatory term used to describe those who have crossed the border illegally, according to NWIRP. A Washington State Patrol officer brought the border patrol agents captured in the video to the scene for “interpretation assistance,” according to the complaint.

Washington Customs and Border Protection spokesperson Mike Milne said he could not comment on the video or complaint. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

WATCH: NWIRP Video Of Border Patrol Agents Acting As Interpreters, Using Ethnic Slur

NWIRP filed the suit in Washington state on behalf of six individuals who experienced similar treatment. They say that border patrol agents and police are breaking the law.

“Law enforcement agencies who attempt to use Border Patrol for alleged ‘interpretation assistance’ during routine matters are failing to provide meaningful access to their services to people with limited English skills, as they are required to do under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Executive Order 13166,” said Jorge L. Barón, executive director of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in a press statement.

The NWIRP civil rights complaint comes amidst a flurry of bad press for the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, including the release of a new PBS documentary which implicates more than a dozen border patrol agents in the tasing death of Anastasio Hernandez-Rojas.The documentary, which aired in April, includes footage showing one border patrol agent striking Hernandez-Rojas with a baton while another agent tased the Mexican national with a stun gun. During the incident Hernandez-Rojas lay on the ground, yelling for help, with more than a dozen border patrol agents around him. He died shortly after the incident. Border patrol agents have said Hernandez-Rojas resisted officers while being deported.

The Washington civil rights complaint also comes less than a week after Michigan border patrol agents were called to act as interpreters when six immigrants placed a 911 call in Huron County. The Huffington Post uncovered that border patrol agents never translated the reasons for the initial 911 call, but rather, only identified the immigrants as undocumented, and took them into custody.

Immigration attorney Erich Straub told The Huffington Post that calling in the border patrol as interpreters in the Michigan case was inappropriate, particularly because the call may have involved a medical emergency.

"I seriously doubt that Huron calls in the border patrol for every single translation case. Federal law enforcement is expensive, and border patrol agents are busy people," Straub told The Huffington Post.

CBP has insisted that when called by law enforcement agencies for translation assistance, they only work to facilitate communication.

Spokesperson Richard Sinks told Seattle-area KUOW/ 94.9 FM news radio, "we will not arrest or even seek immigration status of a victim or a witness. We're strictly there for translation in that type of request."

The lawyers behind the suit filed this week say this border patrol agents too often behave differently.

"The video that is being released today shows that agents in fact question and detain individuals who were witnesses and bystanders,” Barón said.

Civil rights complaints filed against the nation's border patrol agency have grown substantially in recent years. In 2004, lawyers and individuals who had contact with border patrol agencies filed 34 complaints. In 2010, the most recent year for which complaint data is available, 65 complaints were made against the agency.

Like all formal notices of alleged civil rights violations, the complaint filed this week will be investigated, according to information about the complaint process listed on The Department of Homeland Security's website. Agency investigators will generate a report and, if they deem it necessary, recommend changes.

SLIDESHOW: Famous Deportees

Loading Slideshow

• Alfonso Portillo

  Guatemala's former President Alfonso Portillo arrives to court in Guatemala City, Monday, Sept. 3, 2012. Portillo is required to appear in court once a month until his possible extradition to the U.S., and on Monday the country's top court confirmed Portillo will be extradited to the U.S. where he will face charges of conspiracy to launder money. His date of extradition was not announced. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

• Manuel Noriega

  Former Panamanian general Manuel Noriega was extradited to France in 2010 on charges of money laundering. Noriega was first convicted on drug trafficking charges in the U.S. and sentenced to to 30 years in prison in 1992. In April 2010, he was sent to France after the U.S. State Department authorized his extradition. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison in July 2010 by a French judge, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/n/manuel_antonio_noriega/index.html" target="_hplink">according to the NYTimes.</a> Noriega was Panama's longtime intelligence chief before taking power in 1982. He had been considered a valued CIA asset for years, but as a dictator he joined forces with drug traffickers and was implicated in the death of a political opponent. The French claimed Noriega laundered some $3 million in drug proceeds by purchasing luxury apartments in Paris, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/26/manuel-noriega-to-be-extr_n_552640.html" target="_hplink">according to HuffPost.</a>

• Inocente† Orlando† Montano

  FILE - In this Dec. 19, 2011 file photo, Inocente Orlando Montano, a former Salvadoran military officer, arrives at federal court in Boston. Montano, accused of colluding in the 1989 slayings of six Jesuit priests, admitted Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012 in federal court in Boston that he lied to U.S. immigration officials, a guilty plea that could allow him to be extradited to Spain for prosecution in the killings. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

• Augusto Pinochet

  The late Chilean general Augusto Pinochet was captured in London where he had traveled for medical treatment. On October 1999, he was extradited to Spain to stand trial for torture and human rights charges, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/468589.stm" target="_hplink">according to BBC news. </a> Human rights groups hailed the decision. Some of Pinochet's most gruesome crimes were said to be have come during "The Caravan of Death", <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/850932.stm" target="_hplink"> where prisoners who had voluntarily turned themselves in were taken from their cells and summarily executed, often without the knowledge or consent of the local military authorities.</a> Pinochet was under house arrest because of his deteriorating health. He died in December 2006.

• Eduardo Arellano-Felix

  This image provided by the DEA shows Eduardo Arellano-Felix in the process of being extradited to the United States from Mexico Friday Aug. 31, 2012. Arellano-Felix will face U.S. charges of racketeering, money laundering and narcotics trafficking. Arellano-Felix was arrested by Mexican authorities in Tijuana, Mexico, on Oct. 25, 2008, following a gun battle with a Mexican authorities. (AP Photo/DEA)

• Mario Cardenas Guillen

  A Mexican Navy officer stands next to Mario Cardenas Guillen, also known as "El Gordo" and "M-1," during his presentation to the media in Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. Authorities says Cardenas Guillen, a top leader of the Gulf drug cartel, is the brother of Osiel Cardenas Guillen, who led the cartel until he was detained in 2003. Osiel Cardenas was extradited in 2007 to the United States and sentenced to 25 years in prison. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

• Ramon Quintero

  FILE - In this April 14, 2012 file photo, police escort Ramon Quintero, a suspected Colombian drug trafficker, as he arrives to Bogota after being deported from Ecuador. Quintero, who is awaiting sentencing in a Miami Federal court, confessed on Friday, Sept. 7, 2012 to a charge of conspiracy to import cocaine from Colombia into the U.S. Quintero was extradited to the U.S. in Dec. 2011. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)

• Alfonso Portillo

  The former Guatemalan president during a hearing in court on May 9, 2011 in Guatemala City. A court acquitted Portillo and two former ministers of allegedly diverting $15 million in an embezzlement scheme involving the Ministry of Defense. Prosecutors in New York accused Portillo of using U.S. bank accounts to launder millions of dollars in public funds, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15750420" target="_hplink">according to BBC. </a>

• Simon Trinidad

  Juvenal Ovidio Ricardo Palmera Pineda, aka Simon Trinidad, one of the highest ranking officials of the FARC, or Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia was captured in Jan. 2004. In the 1980s, Trinidad was a respected banker in the city of Valledupar, Colombia. He managed the bank accounts of important Colombian figures, he owned a luxury apartment and his kids attended the best private school, <a href="http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/farc/farc-capturado-simon-trinidad.htm" target="_hplink">according to Latin American Studies. </a> In 1987, however, Trinidad decided to join the Northern Caribbean Bloc of FARC. He handled the group's finances. He was captured in Quito, Ecuador in 2004 and <a href="http://www.eluniverso.com/2004/11/06/0001/14/60DC93AD358E473584B1201B8AAB3571.html" target="_hplink">was authorized for extradition in November 2004. </a> One of the first ranking guerrilla members to captured, Trinidad is serving a 60-year sentence in the United States.

• Jorge 40

  Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, aka Jorge 40, was the leader of the Northern Bloc of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia), a murderous, right-wing paramilitary group in Colombia. He demobilized with his two thousand men on March 10, 2006. In 2008, the Colombian government took <a href="http://www.justiceforcolombia.org/news/article/354/human-rights-experts-condemn-extradition-of-paramilitary-leaders" target="_hplink">Jorge 40 and 13 other paramilitary leaders from there jail cells</a>. They were extradited to the U.S.

• Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela

  Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, former founder and leader of the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/business/inside/colombian.html" target="_hplink">Medellin Cartel</a> was captured in 1995 and held in a Colombian prison. Rodriguez Orejuela was extradited to U.S. in March of 2005 after former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe signed an executive order. The cartel boss was charged alongside his brother, Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela,<a href="http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1748/a02.html" target="_hplink"> for running a drug network that produced 80 percent of the cocaine entering the U.S. during the 1990s. </a> <a href="http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/colombia/orejuela.htm" target="_hplink">In a federal indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, officials charged that the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers, even from prison, wielded enormous influence, running a money-laundering operation to hide $2.1 billion in drug revenue. </a>

Comments

[Jerry Bourbon]

02:37 PM on 05/07/2012

Of course if you LEARN ENGLISH, you will not need an interpreter, and the BP will not be involved...

[John Genryu]

01:43 AM on 03/29/2013

Better yet, learn Spanish as the US is going to be a Hispanic culture and white English speakers are now the minority, not the majority.

[bg3]

12:28 PM on 05/06/2012

whats wrong with saying they are wet?

[ChiGuy]

11:21 AM on 05/06/2012

Amnesty for all. NOW!!!

[timesrtough]

12:32 PM on 05/06/2012

Does that include all of those in prison?
ALL of those in prison?

[ChiGuy]

04:53 PM on 05/07/2012

Well, since even LEGAL felons are just about all automatically deported, obviously not.

[Jerry Bourbon]

02:49 PM on 05/07/2012

ESPECIALLY the ones working in your restuarant for $4 an hour, right?

[ChiGuy]

04:45 PM on 05/07/2012

When I had my restaurants, hell yeah!!

My bus and dish people started at $6.25 per hour. With their cut from each server's tips, the lunch shift (our busiest) people averaged about $13 per hour, while the dinner shift ones averaged about $11.
My line cooks STARTED at $12, and depending on experience and seniority, went as high as $18.
But the truth is that everyone eventually wanted to be a server. Being on the North Shore, we catered to people with LOTS of disposable income. My lunch waitstaff averaged about $110 per day in tips.

Hope that clarifies some of those usual uninformed assumptions you anti-undocumented folks like to lob out there as though you know what you're talking about.

[BlairCase]

10:08 AM on 05/06/2012

The lawsuit alleges that “law enforcement agencies who attempt to use Border Patrol for alleged ‘interpretation assistance’ during routine matters are failing to provide meaningful access to their services to people with limited English skills, as they are required to do under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Executive Order 13166,”( Executive Order 13166 ("Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency") requires Federal agencies to examine the services they provide, identify any need for services to those with limited English proficiency and develop and implement a system to provide those services so persons with limited English proficiency can have meaningful access to them.) However, in the Washington case, the Border Patrol agents weren't tryng to assist the undocumented immigrants. They were trying to assist the police officer, who had limited Spanish proficiency.

[ResistImperialism]

10:42 AM on 05/05/2012

This country has lacked empathy for fellow human beings from day one, it has never been one of our core value. That's what happens when the the foundation of the country is laid with blood of natives and sweat of slaves. I hope the new generation bring more hope.

[andreabeth7]

08:47 PM on 05/04/2012

"A Seattle-based immigrant advocacy nonprofit filed a formal civil rights complaint against the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, challenging the practice of local police departments calling in border patrol agents to act as interpreters in routine matters. "

If I were a LEO investigating a possible violation of the law and I needed an interpreter, I would prefer that ANOTHER LEO serve as the interpreter. Who do you expect the WSP officer to have called? Furthermore, how is using the BP as interpreters breaking the law?
One is led to suspect that what has the author of this article upset is that the BP agents actually did their job, that is they detained illegal immigrants.

[BlairCase]

04:30 PM on 05/03/2012

How was the traffic cop to have known that the passengers were undocumented immigrants? Opponents of state enforcement of immigration laws claim police can't distinguish undocumented immirgants from U.S. citizens.

[Seastink]

01:26 PM on 05/03/2012

What's the issue? Nothing in that video seems wrong.

[MeanRooster]

10:05 AM on 05/03/2012

By the way Ted Williams, yes the great Boston Red Sox hitter, is Mexican. Kick him out.

[BlairCase]

04:23 PM on 05/03/2012

Ted Williams wasn't Mexican. He was born in San diego. He father was from New York and his mother wasfrom El Paso. His mother did have Mexican ancestry, but both parents were U.S. citizens. Ted Williams might correctly be described as Hispanic or Mexican American, but not as Mexican. He was never a citizen of Mexico. His citizenship has never been in question, so it's unlikely that he will ever face a deportation hearing, especially since he's dead.

[MeanRooster]

10:54 AM on 05/04/2012

"described as Mexican American" but "Ted Williams wasn't Mexican"????????????????
That's like saying Tiger Woods is not black, he's African American????????
Oh and don't forget about Fergie, Mark Sanchez, Tony Romo, Santana, Cain Velasquez, and the list goes on and on and on. The Mexicans are growing up stronger, smarter, and with a chip on their shoulder because of the oppression they have witnessed.

[Jerry Bourbon]

02:50 PM on 05/07/2012

Ted Williams was born in San Diego, and was thus a US Citizen.

But you already knew that...

[MeanRooster]

09:57 AM on 05/03/2012

All of you posting anything about "illegals shouldn't be here", unless you are a Native American, you have no room to talk. Remember that it was your European ancestors that came here illegally and ravaged the Natives. I am still amazed how people can sit there and talk without reviewing History. Learn People Learn!

The problem is this, you seem Mexicans as the Natives saw the Europeans hundreds of years ago, "they are going to take over!".

[BlairCase]

02:38 PM on 05/03/2012

There were no immigration laws to violate until the 1800s. Virtually all of our European ancestors came to America legally. Native Americans are descended from Asians who migrated to America from Asia. You would know this if you read a little history.

[ResistImperialism]

10:44 AM on 05/05/2012

Laws don't have to be written, societies throughout history have been governed by unwritten laws. And ethnic cleansing is never legal.

[libertad2012]

05:04 PM on 05/06/2012

Native Americans originally came from Asia...and by the way, they were not the only ones. When Europeans arrived, the natives were already killing each other though human sacrifices and wars. They were deeply divided.

The problem is that illegals think that they are above the law, whether they are mexicans, europeans, or asians. Since Mexico's immigration laws are tougher than in the U.S., does this mean that mexicans think that central and south american illegal immigrants are going to take over?

[MeanRooster]

10:33 AM on 05/07/2012

So when Mexicans arrive and the Americans are killing each other through AIDS, Homicides, and who knows what else, then Mexicans should just finish them off? It's not like America is not divided? Face it and own it, you killed, raped, and stole the land from the natives, now you are crying "it's not fair" because people want to live in the same land that you stole? It's in your history book, look it up!

And "illegals" are far from feeling they are above the law, they try to stay out of sight so that they won't be seen or heard from. Of course there are a bunch of stupid ones that think that, but why would include all of them, when you know damn well it's not true. And don't know if you've ever been to Mexico but their immigration laws are far from "tougher than the US". It's obvious you don't know what you are talking about. The things stupid people write.

And don't even bother replying to this, save yourself the time.

[Elizabeth Lutrell]

09:44 AM on 05/03/2012

Will the jurors in this lawsuit be legal Americans? If so, good luck with this incredibly stu pid and OFFENSIVE lawsuit.

[thebarse]

06:50 AM on 05/03/2012

They(Illegals)wouldn't be called those names if they came here legally. You come here illegally then we're going to call you names. Come legally and we won't call you names. Deal?

[MeanRooster]

10:21 AM on 05/03/2012

Are you Native American? Then what do they call whites who come here illegally?

[mscc827]

01:05 PM on 05/03/2012

Hmmm, good point MeanRooster. I wonder what the Native Americans called us when we came here. I guess they did the same thing we are doing. Getting on our computers and whining about how this country is ours and how it's not fair these "foreign invaders" are coming in without permission and expecting to take our food, land, and money. Isn't it ironic? I personally think it is hilarious.

[BlairCase]

04:28 PM on 05/03/2012

Native American tribes generally support strong border enforcement, especially those tribes whose reservations abut Mexico and serve a conduits for illegal entry. . Tribal police are quick to escort unauthorized persons off their reservations. They don't bother with immigration court hearing either.

[ChiGuy]

11:18 AM on 05/06/2012

You really don't realize just how much like the rant of a 7th grader that sounds, do you?

[cdmak1]

05:06 AM on 05/03/2012

Freedom of speech, anyone????

[NCOak]

10:59 PM on 05/03/2012

no, please educate yourself before posting further

[inthedesert]

07:23 PM on 05/02/2012

WHEN will this assault on the laws and law-enforcers by illegals from Mexico end?? I am so sick of these people who have no right to be here telling America how it should treat them. God.
This madness has to stop.

[ChiGuy]

11:20 AM on 05/06/2012

Where in this article do see undocumented immigrants "telling" America anything?

It is attorneys - clearly licensed to practice here in the United States - who are filing the complaints.

[timesrtough]

04:49 PM on 05/02/2012

I was going to retype this vulgar and derogatory term in my post but I was afraid it wouldn't get by the HP censors.
How terrible that those professional law enforcement officers would use this inflammatory, degrading and vicious term. It astounds me that such shameful and demeaning language would be used to describe these wonderful people that only are seeking the American dream.
I can only hope that the folks that were apprehended did not overhear this conversation. If they did it may have caused deep and emotional scaring and physiological damage that may take years of therapy to repair. The damage to their self-esteem and self-worth must have been horrendous.
My heart goes out to them.
And if/when they successfully return to this country, I am sure my tax dollars will also go out to them.

[andreabeth7]

05:26 PM on 05/04/2012

"I can only hope that the folks that were apprehended did not overhear this conversation. If they did it may have caused deep and emotional scaring and physiological damage that may take years of therapy to repair. The damage to their self-esteem and self-worth must have been horrendous. "

A lawsuit is probably being filed as we speak.

[timesrtough]

10:19 PM on 05/04/2012

You may be correct and that is so sad.

[chevyliddle]

10:02 AM on 05/12/2012

I wonder how long you would have to wait on the border area to hear a Mexican national use a derogatory term on a border agent?

[bg3]

08:23 PM on 05/05/2012

Theyre wet? Looked like rain to me