DHS rarely advocates against agents accused of abusing immigrants, say lawyers

HOUSTON – A few hours later, two teenage sisters in Guatemala claimed that an officer carried out an improper strip search.

The officer denied the allegations, including the sisters' claims that he touched their genitals. He insisted that he had only taken their fingerprints before bringing them back to their cell.

The investigation into the affair returned to the words of the sisters and the agent. As in dozens of similar cases, government investigators lined up on the side of the agent.

The lawyers say that the case – described in a report written by internal investigators – shows the types of obstacles faced by detained immigrants when they make a claim for misconduct.

"These women were actually, for lack of a better word, happy that their case was the subject of an investigation," said Christina Mansfield, co-founder of the Freedom for Immigrants advocacy group. "They are in the extreme minority in this respect."

The sisters, aged 17 and 19, entered the United States without legal authority in July 2016. They were stopped by Border Patrol Officers shortly after crossing the border.

Associated Press has received a written copy of the investigation report through the Freedom of Information Act. It appears that the investigators determined that the allegations of the sisters could not be justified for lack of material evidence.

Immigration advocates say that the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, which has reviewed the case of the sisters, rarely recommends that action be taken against the officers. A Freedom for Immigrants study found that between January 2010 and July 2016, the Inspector General had received 84 complaints of forced sexual contact against the US Customs and Border Protection, which includes Border Patrol. The Inspector General has only opened seven investigations, none of which would have resulted in charges, according to the study that was conducted examining government records.

The study revealed that the Inspector General had also investigated such a small number of cases for detention centers managed by the US Immigration and Customs Service.

CBP would not deal directly with the sisters, nor discipline the agent involved. The agency said that she was committed to treating the inmates with "professionalism and courtesy".

– Associated Press