Kuster Amendments Included in House Passed Legislation to Improve Living Conditions for Migrants in Custody on the Southern Border

 Last evening, Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02) voted in favor of H.R. 3239, Humanitarian Standards for Individuals in Customs and Border Protection Custody Act, which passed the House. This legislation, which Rep. Kuster cosponsored, reforms the way migrants are treated in Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) custody by requiring all migrants receive medical screening, nutritional meals, access to hygienic care products, and basic conditions required for sleep. It also prohibits CBP from putting migrants into overcrowded cells. The legislation includes two amendments introduced by Kuster to help ensure CBP is in compliance with its own sexual abuse prevention standards and require the Secretary of Homeland Security to release data on reports of sexual abuse complaints.

“Women, children, and men who come to this country should be treated with compassion and respect, not in the barbaric way so many are currently being treated at our border,” said Rep. Kuster. “The reports that people in CBP’s custody are experiencing sexual abuse are heart-wrenching and completely unacceptable. We have a responsibility to take action, and I’m proud the House passed this legislation that includes my two amendments to help prevent sexual abuse and improve transparency at CBP.” 

Earlier this month, Rep. Kuster visited McAllen and Brownsville, TX to observe the situation at the border. She and 17 other Democratic Members of Congress were briefed by detention center staff and spoke to children and parents at those locations as well as two nonprofit centers before crossing over the border at Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville, where they provided food and other items to migrant families attempting to apply for asylum in the United States.

Watch Rep. Kuster speak on the House floor last night in support of her amendments, or read her remarks below:

Migrants in Custom and Border Patrol holding facilities deserve to be treated with compassion and respect. Unfortunately, due to the misguided policies of the Trump Administration, many migrants have found themselves stuck living in inhumane conditions.

Earlier this month, I visited one of these facilities in McAllen, Texas, and I was disturbed by what I saw.

I am proud of  my colleague, Congressman Raul Ruiz, and the Judiciary Committee and the leadership of Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren for putting together a comprehensive piece of legislation that will alleviate the suffering of some of these migrants.

My Amendment is very simple. It directs the Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General to pay particular attention to whether CPB facilities comply with Department of Homeland Security sexual abuse prevention policies while inspecting holding facilities.

Many provisions in DHS’s Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Sexual Abuse and Assault are well intentioned. These include requiring sexual abuse prevention training for staff, limiting cross-gender searches, ensuring there are plans in place to respond to sexual violence, and providing survivors of sexual abuse with access to sexual assault nurse examiners.

These policies should help reduce the prevalence of sexual violence, enable victims to report abuse, and provide support for survivors after experiencing trauma.

But I am concerned that Customs and Border Protection is not meeting DHS’ own standards.

An Office of Inspector General report from 2016 recommended that DHS identify which facilities qualify for routine auditing and ensure these facilities are audited by July 2018 – as required by DHS’ own polices.

Today, nearly one year after CBP was supposed to complete these audits, they have not finished the job.

If Customs and Border Protection is not taking this basic step of auditing facilities, we cannot be sure they have properly implemented more onerous, yet crucial policies.

The best plans to prevent sexual violence are worthless if they are not followed. 

This amendment, which I would like to thank my colleagues Rep. Moore and Cisneros for cosponsoring, will help provide clarity about whether CBP is taking steps to prevent and respond to sexual violence and I urge my colleagues to support it.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

…

Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Brave survivors have begun to come forward detailing chilling assaults by Border Protection agents. Some of the survivors are only in their teens.

Despite these heartbreaking stories, there is a stunning lack of transparency about sexual abuse at Customs and Border Protection facilities.

According to the agency’s most recent report on assessing sexual abuse at holding facilities, in FY17 CBP processed more than 534,000 individuals in its holding facilities. Yet the agency itself only received seven claims of sexual abuse.

10 months after FY18, CBP has yet to release its report on abuse last year.

From my own experience working on sexual violence prevention space on college campuses and in the military, I have learned the absence of formal complaints of sexual abuse does not reflect the absence of sexual violence, but signals a culture that prevents people from reporting violence.

According to a Freedom of Information Act request, between January 2010 and July 2016, the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General received 624 complaints about sexual abuse at CBP.

Considering this information, CBP’s failure to promptly publish its own sexual abuse data, and the stories of survivors who have come forward, there is a clear need to improve transparency about sexual abuse at CBP.

My amendment, which I was proud to introduce with Reps. Moore and Cisneros, directs the Secretary of Homeland Security, working with the DHS office that typically receive complaints of sexual abuse, to release all complaints of sexual abuse at CBP once a quarter, removing any information that could compromise the anonymity of survivors.

This is an amendment that all Members should be able to support. Releasing more data in a timely manner will help lawmakers grasp the scope of this problem. Knowing they are not alone may also encourage other survivors to step forward.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment and I reserve the balance of my time.

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