Human Rights accuses US of abuses along Mexico border

US policing along the Mexico border discriminates against Hispanics and Native Americans and contributes to the deaths of illegal immigrants, according to a study by the human rights group Amnesty International USA. The report, titled "In Hostile Terrain: Human Rights Violations in Immigration Enforcement in the US Southwest," identifies what it says are systemic failures of federal, state and local authorities to enforce immigration laws without discrimination. "Communities living along the US-Mexico border, particularly Latinos, individuals perceived to be of Latino origin and indigenous communities, are disproportionately affected by a range of immigration-control measures, resulting in a pattern of human rights violations," the study said. The US government has tightened security along the nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico in recent years, adding additional fencing, surveillance technologies and Border Patrol agents. The federal government also has partnered with some state and local police forces to give officers immigration-enforcement powers.