Judge sanctions Border Patrol over destruction of evidence

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A federal judge in Arizona has issued sanctions against the U.S. Border Patrol over destruction of evidence the agency was required to keep during an ongoing civil lawsuit.

Judge David C. Bury issued the sanctions Monday in a months-long lawsuit filed by a coalition of advocacy groups on behalf of three immigrants who say the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector routinely holds immigrants in inhumane, dirty and extremely cold cells for extended periods of time.

Bury said the destruction of the video-tape recordings “was, at best, negligent and was certainly willful.”

The Border Patrol will now have to produce all existing video recordings from all Tucson Sector stations from June 10 to current time within two weeks, according to the sanctions issued.

Lyall, an attorney with the ACLU, one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit in June, said it’s rare that a judge sanctions a federal agency.

“We believe the destroyed video would have shown the Border Patrol failing to follow its policies and subjecting countless individuals, including our clients, to inhumane and unconstitutional conditions,” he said.