DETROIT— Unsettling images spread over the web recently showing Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents helping children aim at targets some groups say resemble brown-skinned immigrants. The Northern Borders Coalition and other groups fighting for immigrant families expressed outrage at the practice they believe could instill bigotry in young minds.  Immigrant advocates want the CBP to be held accountable for what they call inexcusable actions. 

“Border Patrol agents teaching kids to shoot at immigrants is dehumanizing and wrong on so many levels, it’s incredible. Even so, it’s just one more indication of a culture of violence and the cavalier use of deadly force that has sparked calls for investigation,” said Raquel Garcia Anderson of Michigan United. “This is an agency that operates with relatively little oversight and all but no transparency. It’s time for light to be shed on the killing of unarmed civilians by CBP agents and for the leaders of CBP to show some responsibility for the agency they run.” 

Last November, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) issued a report to CBP with recommendations to “train agents to de-escalate these encounters by taking cover, moving out of range and/or using less lethal weapons.”

Controversial photographs from a recent Border Patrol event show agents teaching children to aim and shoot a paintball gun at targets groups say resemble brown skinned immigrants.

Members of Congress and the UN Commission on Human Rights have called for investigations of CBP’s use of deadly force and the policies and practices that have led to deaths of unarmed civilians.

The Arab-American Civil Rights League (ACRL) of Dearborn denounced the CBP for allowing children to shoot at what they describe as mock immigrant targets. The group called the practice immoral and dehumanizing. The ACRL says the practice plays into the wrong stereotypes of immigrants across the country and sets in the mind of young children that immigrants are bad and not to be treated the same as all citizens. ACRL sent a letter to the Commissioner of CBP requesting immediate action for the agency to cease and desist such practices. 

Border Patrol has responded to the claims saying that it is “standard” practice to use targets dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. The agency denied accusations that the target was meant to resemble an immigrant, and said the “activity was intended to create awareness about law enforcement tools used to address some violent situations without the use of deadly force.” Immigrant rights groups say the targets are located within 100 feet from Virginia Avenue where people have been killed by Border Patrol gunfire. 

Groups also raised concern that the activity  was insensitive, especially when the agency is under heavy scrutiny for incidents that have occured over the last few years. Since 2010 Border Patrol has killed 20 people. One victim is a 16-year-old Mexican boy who was throwing rocks at a fence.