Border Patrol Get Bonuses & Vacations for Increased Arrests

By Pilar Marrero, NewsTaco

You would say that a nice incentive program is a good thing to have when you are looking to reach some goals in an organization. The problem is that sometimes those rewards seem to “incentivize” the wrong thing, like it´s shown in this report by NYU School of Law and Families for Freedom published last week.

But before going into the details of the report, let´s point out an ironic twist on this same issue.

Legislators like Lamar Smith (R-TX) keep saying that the President´s record on enforcement is a “failing grade” and others like Bob Goodlatte (R-Va), the new chairman of the Judiciary commitee, insist he “hasn´t enforced the laws on the books”. That would of course be shocking news to the more than 1.6 million people deported under President Barack Obama´s administration –more than any other president in recent history- and to those who monitor the day to day enforcement activities of the immigration authorities, who now spend more yearly than all the other federal law enforcement agencies combined –FBI, CIA, DEA, Secret Service. You get the drift.

At the same time, we hear that the politicians and activists on the same side of the ideological stream than Smith and Goodlatte complain of “too much government control” and a lack of “freedom” on the economy, gun control, etc. And yet, they seem unfazed by the evidence that their pressure to increase enforcement before any real change to the immigration laws is put in place is creating instances where a real police state exists and where the long arm of the government reaches into the lives of people in a very real way.

This report reads like a good mistery novel and it would be fun if it wasn´t that these are real people we are talking about and our tax money being used to incentivize behaviors that not only don´t meet the goals of the organization –to focus on criminals and those who violate immigration laws- but who actually might be violating people´s constitutional rights.

According to documents uncovered by these groups thru litigation and FOIA request over the years, the US Border Patrol routinely stops and interrogates people in bus and train stops, and even on a street corner in New York State. The point is to do what they call “interior enforcement” or enforcement that goes beyond the border to catch people who are unauthorized to live or be here as a way to discourage this activity.

There is one massive problem with this, according to the review of internal documents that the authors of this report conducted: many of those arrested (not one, not 2, but hundreds of people) in this internal enfocement efforts in a specific area of New York state aren´t unauthorized or undocumented at all. In just one train station in the Rochester area, the analysis identified 300 people who had a form of legal status and who were arrested and detained for hours before being released including: citizens, legal permanent residents, tourists, students with a visa, people with work visas, you name it.

Moreover, the study found evidence that the NUMBER of arrests is closely monitored by the authorities in the area, including breakdown by sectors and such, as to track who arrested more, etc. Even more interesting, Border Patrol officers are receiving cash bonuses and vacation awards and gift cards of up to 100 dollars. The sums of this rewards in the area analyzed (Buffalo Sector) grew every year to over 200,000 dollars.

As the report indicates, the USBP presence and interior enforcement in some areas near the borders is tantamount to stopping anyone they please –or “looks foreign”- and demand to see their “papers”. Sounds like the same concept implemented by the Arizona Law that the same Obama Administration is fighting in the courts.

As the report states:

The documents from USBP show that USBP agents act on the assumption that they may arrest any noncitizen—whether a tourist or a long‐term legal resident with a driver’s license—whenever that person is not carrying detailed documentation that provides proof of status. But USBP’s records also show that the agents are not genuinely interested in what documents the law might require noncitizens to carry. Instead, USBP’s demand for “papers” is universal, resulting in an enforcement culture that maximizes arrest rates. Indeed, USBP agents are encouraged to arrest first and verify status later, which they accomplish by forcing the arrestee, employers, schools and family members to send in papers proving legal presence. The message to the foreign born is ugly and untenable.

And adds:

USBP has for years demanded high arrest rates from its agents in order to justify past and future budgetary increases.Internal agency pressure has resulted in aggressive policing far from the border; it targets not recent border crossers, but people who have been in this country for years.The newly discovered cash bonus program suggests that border agents have even more incentive to arrest individuals than previously believed.

The report goes into details into the cases of citizens, residents, tourists and others who were stopped and detained when going about their daily business. This reports come from forms filled out by Border Patrol officers and released under pressure of litigation and FOIA requests.

So, how much of a police state are Americans willing to endure –or have some of their population endure- to satisfy arrest quotas and interior enforcement of immigration laws? Apparently a lot because we have yet to hear a peep from the freedom fighters.

This article was first published in PilarMarrero.com.