Posted on 12/03/2005 5:57:40 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
December 3, 2005 — A Honduran man claims in a federal lawsuit that U.S. Border Patrol agents beat him up to the point that he was hospitalized for two weeks in 2003.
Court records show that Santos Roque Ramirez Carias, an undocumented immigrant, swam across the Rio Grande near El Calaboz, upriver from Brownsville, on Dec. 23, 2003.
Ramirez, 41, fled from Border Patrol agents after being spotted in a field, according to a federal lawsuit filed Monday.
Ramirez claims that he surrendered with his arms raised but was tackled by agents John South and Ruben Torres.
The two agents allegedly took turns hitting Ramirez in his back and legs, then lifted him by the shoulders and slammed him down on the ground before one of them kicked him in the groin.
The agents allegedly handcuffed and struck the Ramirez three to four more times and repeated racial slurs.
According to the lawsuit, agent Matthew Wess arrived to the scene and grabbed Ramirez by his armpits and neck when the immigrant told him he could not get up.
Ramirez told Wess that he thought the others must have broken his back and the agent allegedly replied that the Honduran immigrant was “a good actor.”
Ramirez claims the agents picked him up and dropped him several more times and told him that he was “faking his injuries” and that he could “swim back” or “go to jail” if he went to the hospital.
According to the lawsuit, the Honduran man insisted on going to the hospital and had to be driven in a Border Patrol vehicle to meet an ambulance that took him to Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen.
Abner Burnett with the South Texas Civil Rights Project said his client was in the hospital for two weeks and underwent surgery for a broken hip and a herniated disc in his back, among other injuries.
Burnett said his client is seeking damages because he was “nearly beaten to death,” costing him the ability to work as a laborer or in construction.
The San Juan attorney said a review of internal Border Patrol reports shows that Ramirez did not put up a fight during the incident.
“There was nothing to indicate they the agents were in danger or afraid of him,” Burnett said. “They tipped the scale and used excessive force.”
Federal court records show that the federal government had not been served with a copy of the lawsuit as of Friday evening.
But U.S. Border Patrol officials said an administrative and external review of the incident cleared the agents of any wrongdoing and shows that Ramirez’s injuries were solely sustained when he was tackled while fleeing from the agents.
“The Office of the Inspector General, an independent investigative body of the government, looked into the case, investigated it and found no criminal wrongdoing,” said agency spokesman Salvador Zamora.
“An administrative review was conducted to determine if there were any policy or procedural violations and none were found,” he said.
Undocumented immigrants often flee apprehension but agents are trained to use, “the minimum amount of force to affect an arrest,” Zamora said.
Once detained, Zamora said immigrants are given their rights and given the opportunity to file complaints.
“We take all allegations extremely seriously. There is no tolerance for excessive force.”
U.S. Immigration Court records show that Ramirez was ordered for deportation at a March 15 hearing.
Zamora said one of the three agents attended the hearing and that Ramirez recanted his brutality claims before an immigration judge.
Burnett could not be reached for comment about Zamora’s statement, but the San Juan attorney said in an earlier interview that Ramirez reunited with his wife and family in Louisiana after the hearing.
schapa@brownsvilleherald.com
He should get free deportation and a bill for the hospital services.
BTTT
READ THE LAST PARAGRAPH, THE SORRY SOB IS IN LOUISIANA NOT BACK SOUTH OF THE BOTDER.
Something tells me that the American taxpayers are paying for his hospital and doctor bills. Among other things.
I also would like to suggest a tad of the benefit of the doubt for the Border Agents involved, before jumping to conclusions that they acted wantonly...who knows, maybe the guy here tried to run, spit on them, flipped them off, called them pejoratives, threw water or clothing or other items at them...you never know.
I think that the mere fact that force was used on the guy suggests that the Agents perceived it necessary for some as yet unpublished reason. What we're reading is only the victimology accusations of an attorney going for gold.
Isn't Harlingen quite a ways away from Brownsville? Why the long distance transport for emergency services?
I'll bet BP saved his butt from the drug cartel.
From Brownsville, just go northwest on US 77 for maybe 25-30 miles, and you're in Harlingen. Did you know that the Marine Corps Memorial, just outside Arlington National Cemetery, is based on a sculpture at the Marine Military Academy, in Harlingen? Also, Marine Harlon Bloch (the one at the base of the pole) was from Weslaco (about 15 miles west of Harlingen, off route 83)?
A few years ago, just after clearing security at Brownsville airport, I (and numerous others) were asked by BP agents if we were US citizens. I said yes, and continued. I said I would show them my passport, but they didn't seem interested.
What's the point of asking this question? Do they expect sometone to say, "no, I'm entering the US illegally"?
"...swam across the Rio Grande near El Calaboz,..."
EL CALABOZ, TEXAS. El Calaboz is a dispersed colonia off U.S. Highway 281 and just north of the Mexican border, six miles south of San Benito in south central Cameron County. The site was settled in the late 1940s and by 1970 had fifty-three residences. In 1986 an estimated population of 162 lived in thirty-six homes. The name comes from Spanish calabozo, "calaboose" or "jailhouse."
He was closer to Harlingen
Pleeeeze, pleeeeeze, pretty please with sugar on top, can I be on the jury?
"Is net zero still a free service?"
They still offer free services, but limited to ten hours a month.
Might be suitable for just email.
They also have pay accounts for over ten hours of service.
email address not working.
"U.S. Immigration Court records show that Ramirez was ordered for deportation at a March 15 hearing.
Zamora said one of the three agents attended the hearing and that Ramirez recanted his brutality claims before an immigration judge. "
He's been ordered deported, and has recanted. This story is such a condensed and convoluted aggregate of events, that it's meaning is lost.
"email address not working."
May have gone over their limit today. :-)
Aha... body language, that sort of thing, right? So, if someone appears hesitant or nervous, maybe that reaction gives them grounds to investigate further. Do BP agents need some sort of probably cause before asking for proof of citizenship? Are they even allowed to ask?
At the checkpoints, if they don't like your looks, or they've had a tip, they'll give you a more "thorough" inspection!
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