The U.S. has reportedly spent $60 million to settle claims of border patrol violence in the last decade


The U.S. government has shelled out some major cash because of incidents of violence at the border.
A decade's worth of legal settlements for alleged wrongful deaths, assaults, and other interactions have cost the federal government more than $60 million, The Guardian reported Tuesday.
Between 2005 and 2017, the largest federal law enforcement agency has settled at least 20 wrongful death claims, 1,300 claims of damages from reckless driving, four cases of wrongful deportation, nine illegal detention cases, and several claims of non-deadly force and civil rights violations. Documents reviewed by The Guardian show that the government has paid $6 million to settle lawsuits that say border patrol agents racially profiled and assaulted people without cause.
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"Laura Mireles is a United States citizen with a physical disability who was forcibly thrown to the ground, injured, and arrested," reads one court extract detailing a routine traffic stop gone wrong. "The day following Agent Riano's manhandling of her, she suffered a miscarriage of her pregnancy. Agent Riano's actions are unjustifiable."
The Treasury Department settled a claim against Customs and Border Protection once every 32 hours on average in the 12-year period analyzed by The Guardian. The agency has reportedly investigated 30 incidents involving use of force that led to injury or death since 2015, but each one was found to be compliant with agency policy. Read more at The Guardian.
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Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.
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