Man Says Agents Made Him Strip

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service is investigating allegations that immigration officers forced an amnesty applicant to strip and then interrogated him in the nude before allowing him to go free.

Ralph Paige, regional director for the INS’ Office of Professional Responsibility, the agency’s internal affairs unit, confirmed Tuesday that the incident was under investigation, although he declined to provide details.

Officials of the U.S. Border Patrol, an enforcement arm of the INS, acknowledged that the alleged victim, Saul Manjarrez Aldana, 20, who gave an address in Los Angeles, was interrogated Dec. 9 at the Border Patrol headquarters in El Centro.

In a notarized, one-page statement, INS officials said, Manjarrez, a former farm worker from the Mexican state of Sinaloa, alleges that he was arrested Dec. 9 near Indio and taken to an unspecified INS office for interrogation. Manjarrez charges that the arresting officers did not believe that he was in the process of applying for amnesty, according to an account published Tuesday in the San Diego Tribune. Manjarrez charges that officers forced him to strip and yelled questions into his ear before releasing him.

Manjarrez was allowed to go free after questioning because of his pending amnesty application, said Dale Musegades, chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol in El Centro.

Guidelines of the new immigration law require that agents allow apprehended illegal aliens the opportunity to file for legal status, or amnesty, if their claims appear genuine. However, critics have maintained that the Border Patrol has consistently refused to believe that some arrested aliens may be eligible for amnesty, and has instead pressured the aliens to return to Mexico or elsewhere. The Border Patrol has denied the allegation.