Immigration and human rights advocates have long complained about the lack of accountability when it comes to the culture of violence and excessive force among immigration agents, with a 2014 independent review confirming that border patrol agents “have deliberately stepped in the path of cars apparently to justify shooting at the drivers,” with “67 shooting incidents from January 2010 to October 2012.” Now the horrific 2013 case of Cruz Velazquez Acevedo, a Mexican teenager who died after he was told to drink liquid meth by Border Protection officers, adds to those claims. While Cruz’s family rightfully received a $1 million settlement for his death, neither officer was fired or even disciplined:
The 16-year-old had just crossed the U.S.-Mexico border to San Diego and was going through the San Ysidro Port of Entry. He was carrying two bottles of liquid that he claimed was apple juice. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers told him to drink it to prove he wasn’t lying, court records say.
The teen took four sips.
Then, he began sweating profusely. He screamed and clenched his fists.
In a matter of minutes, his temperature soared to 105 degrees, his family’s attorney said. His pulse reached an alarming rate of 220 beats per minute — more than twice the normal rate for adults.
“Mi corazón! Mi corazón!” Acevedo screamed, according to court records — “My heart! My heart!”
He was dead about two hours later.
Now, more than three years after his death, the United States has agreed to pay Acevedo’s family $1 million in a wrongful-death lawsuit brought against two border officers and the U.S. government.
Eugene Iredale, the family’s attorney, called the agents’ treatment of Cruz “the most inhuman kind of cruelty.” Iredale added that the agency had “test kits available that would’ve given results in two to three minutes,” but that the two officers, Adrian Perallon and Valerie Baird, “coerced and intimidated” Cruz into drinking the liquid and only tested it until after he had already consumed some. The family’s complaint also alleges that the agents knew it was a controlled substance, but made him drink it anyway. Cruz was not sent to a hospital until an hour later, according to the complaint, and died an agonizing death an hour after that.
Perallon and Baird are still employed by the Customs and Border Protection in San Diego, the agency said in a statement.
“Although we are not able to speak about this specific case, training and the evaluation of CBP policies and procedures are consistently reviewed as needed,” the statement said.
Iredale said Acevedo’s death prompted an internal affairs investigation, but neither officer was disciplined. When asked about the internal affairs investigation, a Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman said the agency had no further comment.
The federal government settled with the family this past January for $1 million, following their lawsuit alleging “violations of constitutional rights, including the right to not be subjected to punishment without due process. It also accused government officials of not adequately training border officers.” Baird’s attorney’s initially sought to dismiss the lawsuit, saying Cruz “wasn’t a U.S. citizen and had no connections with the United States that entitled him to any constitutional rights.”
Cruz’s family still “does not know where or how Acevedo got the drugs, or why he brought them into the United States.” The teen had no record. But what is clear is that the agents’ actions resulted in this boy’s cruel death, and no one in the agency or government has been held responsible and punished. The scathing 2014 review of Border Patrol had already criticized the government for a “lack of diligence” in its investigations. Now under the Trump regime, advocates will continue to be loud in their demand to know who will watch the watchers.