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New Mexico woman sues Border Control officers for 6-hr abuse

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Customs and Border Protection and a Texas hospital allegedly subjected a woman to repeated anal and vaginal cavity searches over a period of six hours without her consent and without a warrant, leaving her traumatized, according to a lawsuit filed in December. The hospital then allegedly sent the woman a bill for more than $5,000 after she refused to sign a consent form.

The civil lawsuit against CBP and the University Medical Center of El Paso, where some of the cavity searches were performed, raises questions about what legal protections are available to people when crossing an increasingly militarized border.

“Whether or not this reflects a pattern of practice [at CBP] is not yet clear,” the woman’s attorney, Laura Schauer Ives, told The Huffington Post. “But that the agents felt emboldened to do this, I think, is telling.”

According to the complaint, which received renewed attention this past weekend after being featured on the public radio show “On the Media,” the plaintiff is a 54-year-old woman from New Mexico who traveled to Ciudad Juárez in December 2012 to visit a close family friend who had been deported. The plaintiff, a US citizen, asked the court to proceed anonymously due to the “highly personal and sensitive nature of the events.”

When the woman returned to the United States through the port of entry at El Paso, Texas, border officials randomly selected her for further screening, the lawsuit says. While she was in line, a drug dog lunged at her, leading authorities to believe she was carrying drugs.

They then began a series of invasive cavity searches, the suit alleges. When those exams revealed nothing, authorities sent the plaintiff, referred to in the suit as “Jane Doe,” to the University Medical Center of El Paso for more.

According to the complaint in the civil lawsuit:

Over the course of the next six hours, Defendants subjected Ms. Doe to a series of highly invasive searches, any one of which would have been humiliating and demeaning. First, government agents stripped searched [sic] Ms. Doe and made a visual and manual inspection of her genitals and anus. Finding nothing, Defendants next subjected her to an observed bowel movement. When that procedure yielded no evidence of drugs, Defendants X-rayed Ms. Doe. Having found nothing, Defendants next shackled Ms. Doe to an examining table and inserted a speculum into her vagina, performed a rectal exam on her, and conducted a bimanual cavity search of her vagina. Still not satisfied, Defendants subjected Ms. Doe to a CT scan and again found no evidence of drugs.

Though Defendants conducted these searches against the will of Ms. Doe and without her consent, the Medical Center billed Ms. Doe more than $5,000.00 for its “services.”

CBP said it does not comment on pending litigation, but forwarded a statement saying the organization does not tolerate abuse and would cooperate with investigations into allegations of misconduct.

“CBP stresses honor and integrity in every aspect of our mission, and the overwhelming majority of CBP employees and officers perform their duties with honor and distinction, working tirelessly every day to keep our country safe,” the statement says. The Huffington Post

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