A family has been awarded $1.5 million after their two children, both U.S. citizens, were falsely imprisoned by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents at the U.S.-Mexico border. The ruling, delivered by U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, found that the agency was liable for false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence in connection with the 2019 incident.
The case centers around Julia, who was nine years old at the time, and her brother Oscar, then 14. On March 18, 2019, the siblings were making their regular crossing from their home in Tijuana, Mexico, to attend school in San Ysidro, California. Both children were born in the U.S. and are U.S. citizens, while their mother, Thelma Medina Navarro, is a Mexican citizen with a temporary U.S. border-crossing card.
As they attempted to cross the border at the San Ysidro point of entry, CBP agents stopped Julia, suspecting that she did not match the photo on her passport. This suspicion led to a series of events that culminated in the wrongful detention of both children.
Julia was taken into a room and interrogated by a single CBP officer, a violation of the agency’s policy requiring an additional witness for the interview of a minor. During this interrogation, Julia was coerced into falsely confessing that she was her cousin, leading officials to believe that she and Oscar were involved in smuggling and using false identities.
“The United States does not offer a coherent explanation as to why Julia would falsely confess that she was her cousin,” Judge Curiel wrote in his ruling. “Since the confession was not recorded, witnessed, or even recounted in any written detail, it will never be known why a 9-year-old U.S. citizen falsely confessed to being someone she is not.”
Following the coerced confession, the children were separated and detained in cells at the border crossing’s Admissibility Enforcement Unit. Oscar was held for 14 hours, while Julia was detained for 34 hours. The children were finally released after pressure from the Mexican consulate and media interviews given by their mother.
The incident left lasting emotional scars on the children. Julia experienced insomnia and nightmares and required counseling after her release. “I hope that no one ever has this again,” Julia told NBC San Diego following the ruling.
Judge Curiel awarded $250,000 to Thelma Medina Navarro, $175,000 to Oscar, and $1.1 million to Julia. “The government’s conduct in detaining U.S. citizen children at the border for 14 and 34 hours respectively … exceeded all bounds of that usually tolerated in a civilized community,” Curiel wrote in his ruling.
The judge criticized CBP officers for failing to take available steps to verify the children’s identities. “Common sense and ordinary human experience indicate that it was not reasonable to detain Julia for 34 hours to determine her identity or to detain Oscar for about 14 hours to determine whether he was smuggling or trafficking his sister when multiple means of investigation were available and officers unreasonably failed to pursue them,” Curiel wrote.
The family’s attorney, Joseph McMullen, expressed gratitude for the ruling and highlighted the broader implications of the case. “Judge Curiel’s verdict is a powerful statement that CBP officers must follow the rules just like everyone else, especially when it comes to the treatment of children,” McMullen said.
A CBP spokesperson stated that the agency “takes all complaints seriously and makes a good faith effort to resolve all complaints justly and fairly, including complying fully with orders issued by the federal district courts.”
The incident began when a CBP officer at the primary checkpoint noticed what she believed to be a facial mole on Julia’s passport photo that Julia did not have in person. This led to a secondary inspection, where a supervisor selected an officer with “a reputation for obtaining confessions” to interview the children.
Officer Willmy Lara, who conducted the interview, testified that two other officers were present, but Judge Curiel found this to be untrue. “The Court finds that Officer Lara violated the CBP policy requiring a witness for interviews of children and otherwise failed to record the interview,” the judge wrote.
During the interview, Julia was pressured into falsely confessing that she was her Mexican cousin. This false confession led officers to suspect that Oscar might be trying to traffic or smuggle her. The siblings were then transported to the Admissibility Enforcement Unit, where they were held in separate group detention cells.
Throughout the day, CBP officers failed to take steps to verify the children’s true identities. Oscar was released after 14 hours, but Julia remained in custody for another 20 hours. The Mexican Consulate intervened on the second day, interviewing Julia to determine her true identity. Under mounting pressure from the media and consulate, Julia was finally released and reunited with her mother and brother.
“The Court finds that a little over $1 million is an appropriate award for Julia because she was very young, only 9 years old, at the time of the incident and was detained overnight, for a full day and a half without contact with her parents,” Curiel wrote. “She manifested fear and distress during the detention and was so traumatized that she experienced nightmares … and insomnia following the incident.”
The judge also awarded damages to Thelma Medina Navarro and Oscar for the stress and trauma they experienced. “What I find most troubling about this case is that CBP’s top brass took no steps to interview any officers, preserve any video surveillance, or otherwise try to find out the truth,” McMullen said.
In his findings, Judge Curiel noted that CBP never interviewed any of the involved officers and never provided Medina with an explanation of what happened. The agency continues to maintain that their officers did nothing wrong and has continued to allege, even during the trial, that Julia is not the person in the passport photo.
The ruling serves as a stark reminder of the importance of adhering to protocols and the severe consequences of failing to do so, especially when it involves the treatment of children.
Source: NBC San Diego, San Diego Union-Tribune, The Times
