Video shows a migrant being beaten to the ground during El Paso’s arrest

Federal officials are investigating a videotaped incident in which a Border Patrol agent punched an immigrant to the ground in El Paso, Texas, Customs and Border Protection reported Saturday. Over the past few months, the border city has struggled to accommodate tens of thousands of migrants fleeing economic collapse, poverty and authoritarian rule.

Local volunteers in El Paso said the incident occurred Friday morning outside a shelter housing newly arrived immigrants. They said that border guards arrested the migrant using “excessive force.”

Surveillance video shared with CBS News shows a Border Patrol agent seeking to detain a suspected immigrant outside a building. The video shows that after he appeared to push the immigrant close to the building, the agent grabbed the immigrant and knocked him to the ground. Then the broker apparently handcuffs the immigrant, who is still on the ground, while another agent notices the stop.

The 38-second video, which depicts viewers watching the incident, does not show what led to the apprehension or subsequent events.

Customs and Border Protection confirmed in a statement that the video showed a Border Patrol agent making an arrest. The agency said its Office of Professional Responsibility was “reviewing the incident.”

“Although at this time we do not have all the details of what happened during this incident, CBP takes all allegations of misconduct seriously, thoroughly investigates, and holds employees accountable when policies are violated,” the agency said.

Volunteers said the incident was disturbing.

“Today, an individual receiving services at the Welcome Center, located at 201 E. 9th Avenue, was arrested in front of the facility by Customs and Border Protection officials with what appears to us to be excessive force. To the best of our knowledge, this is the Opportunity Center’s founder, Ray Tullius. for the Homeless, a group that shared surveillance video outside one of its shelters.

President Biden is scheduled to visit El Paso Sunday, along with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Earlier in the week, Mr. Biden unveiled a new strategy for Reducing illegal border crossings By expelling immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua to Mexico if they seek to enter the southern border illegally and by allowing some nationals of those countries to enter the United States legally if an individual resident in the United States applies to sponsor them.

The incident outside the El Paso shelter also comes amid intense efforts by the Border Patrol to catch immigrants on the streets of the Texas border city who evade arrest. Hundreds of immigrants are sleeping on the city’s streets because shelters are depleted and because El Paso officials have barred immigrants who evaded Border Patrol concerns from federally funded housing facilities, including a convention center that now houses immigrants.

Many of these immigrants are Venezuelans who say they evaded detection, rather than surrender to border officials, after entering the United States illegally because they feared being expelled to Mexico.

Customs and Border Protection confirmed that it has increased the number of Border Patrol agents patrolling El Paso “in response to evading arrest.”

“Customs and Border Protection, which is responsible for securing the US border between ports of entry, uses a layered approach that includes patrolling the border itself, adjacent areas and neighborhoods, and setting up checkpoints – both fixed and temporary,” the agency said in a statement.

But the incident being investigated could contravene Biden administration policy that generally forbids arrests of immigrants “at or near a location that would restrict people’s access to essential services or participation in essential activities.”

October 2021 note By Mayorkas he instructed CBP and ICE to refrain from apprehending immigrants in or near these so-called “protected areas”, which include shelters.

“We can accomplish our Executive Mission without denying or restricting individuals’ access to needed medical care, children’s access to their schools, displaced persons’ access to food and shelter, believers’ access to their places of worship, and more,” Mayorkas wrote in his book. Note 2021.