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About this collection

Extent

695 digital objects.

Description

The records of the American Friends Service Committee - U.S.-Mexico Border Program document the work of the organization primarily between 1982 and 2003, when Roberto Martinez was program director. USMBP was established to monitor local law enforcement practices, support immigrant labor rights, promote understanding of immigration, and support strategic litigation that would have an impact on immigration policies. In support of this advocacy work, the collection contains abuse complaint case files, dated 1977-2001, from individuals in and around the San Diego-Mexico border region reporting violence, harassment, and abuse by law enforcement officers.

For many years, to protect the privacy of complainants, the abuse and complaint files were restricted. During 2020-2022, Special Collections & Archives staff reviewed, scanned, and digitally redacted the files so the allegations reported in the complaints could be made public. Identifying information (such as names and addresses) have been redacted, while photographs, medical records, blank forms, and immigration status documents found throughout the files were not scanned and are not presented in this online collection. Accordingly, some of the digital surrogate files may not be exact copies of the original files, and some files could not be made public at all if they exclusively consisted of one or more of these types of documentation.

Identifiable images, medical records and reports, and United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) documents remain restricted to protect personal privacy.

Creation Date

• 1977-2001

Compilers

• American Friends Service Committee. Mexico-U.S. Border Program
• Martinez, Roberto, 1937-2009

Location Of Originals

From the American Friends Service Committee - United States-Mexico Border Program Records. MSS 644. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.

Geographic

• Mexican-American border region

Corporate Names

• American Friends Service Committee. Mexico-U.S. Border Program
• Centro de Asuntos Migratorios (National City, Calif.)
• Chicano Federation of San Diego County

Topics

• Emigration and immigration
• Human rights
• Immigrants--Civil rights

Format

View formats within this collection

• text

Languages

• English
• Spanish; Castilian

Related Resource

Online finding aid

• American Friends Service Committee - U.S.-Mexico Border Program Records