Guatemalan woman reaches settlement in lawsuit claiming she was sexually assaulted by border patrol agent

Tuesday, February 19, 2019
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Guatemalan woman who lives in Fresno has reached a settlement after she says she was sexually assaulted by a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

In July of 2016, two sisters, then 19 and 17-years-old, were trying to join their mother in Fresno when they left Guatemala and traveled 1,500 miles through Mexico to the Texas border.
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They flagged down a U.S. Border Patrol officer, who took them into custody and brought them to a station in Presidio, Texas.

Once there, the sisters say they were led by a federal officer into a closet-like room one at a time, told to remove all their clothes, and sexually assaulted.

Last year, the ACLU's Fresno office filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security, on behalf of one of the sisters.
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The government has now agreed to pay $125,000 to drop the case.

It is unclear whether the agent faced disciplinary action, or whether he is still employed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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