CBP Use of Force Case Summaries
CBP continues to implement significant policy, procedural and programmatic initiatives that ensure the safety of CBP personnel while striving to earn the public trust. To that end, CBP established U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s National Use of Force Review Board (NUFRB) in December 2014 as part of the many initiatives adopted by CBP to increase accountability and transparency.
The NUFRB is a committee of senior leaders from CBP, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement assigned to review use of force incidents resulting in serious physical injury or death, or any incident involving the discharge of a firearm in a non-training setting. The board reviews cases that have completed the investigative process and have been declined for prosecution by either a U.S. Attorney, state or local prosecutor.
The board considers the following:
Whether use of force is within policy;
Whether there is possible misconduct associated with the application of force; and
Whether lessons can be learned from the incident in terms of techniques, tactics, policy, training and equipment.
Following senior agency leadership concurrence or non-concurrence with the NUFRB’s conclusions, the Commissioner makes the final determination regarding whether the use of force was within policy.
Below are summaries of use of force cases that have completed CBP’s internal review process as well as the conclusions of the NUFRB’s review of those cases.
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On June 17, 2015, at approximately 8 p.m., CBP Air and Marine Operations (AMO) agents observed a vessel, commonly known as a panga, underway northbound off the coast of Rosarito, Baja California....
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On the evening of May 17, 2015, four agents from CBP Air and Marine Operations were involved in the maritime interdiction of a suspected smuggling vessel that ended in the territorial waters of the....
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On May 7, 2015, at 3:50 p.m. local time, a U.S. Border Patrol agent working at a border checkpoint near Waddington, New York, was approached by an individual driving a black sedan. The agent motioned....
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On April 11, 2015, two U.S. Border Patrol agents on patrol near Arivaca, Arizona, responded to radio reports from an agent operating a Mobile Surveillance Capability (MSC) 2 truck about group activity....
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On March 19, 2015, at approximately 2:45 p.m. local time, a sensor activated on the U.S.-Canadian border. Two Border Patrol agents assigned to the Sumas Border Patrol Station in Sumas, Washington....
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On March 10, 2015 in Alpine, CA, a U.S. Border Patrol agent encountered a male subject at an apartment complex while attempting to serve a felony arrest warrant (for forcible rape of a child) as part....
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On Feb. 18, 2015, two United States Border Patrol Agents (BPAs) assigned to the Carrizo Springs Border Patrol Station were on patrol near Carrizo Springs, TX and observed two male subjects whom they....
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On the evening of Feb. 17, 2015, two Border Patrol agents were conducting vehicle patrols in separate, marked, Border Patrol vehicles in a rural area of San Diego County known for smuggling activity....
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On Jan. 21, 2015, Border Patrol Agents from the Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Station responded to surveillance camera alerts involving suspected narcotics smuggling activity near Chapeno, Texas. As....
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On December 24, 2014, at 3:04 p.m. local time, a male subject approached a CBP officer at a pedestrian primary inspection booth at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Ysidro, California. The subject....
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