Posted on 07/10/2012 7:56:40 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Mexican officials have condemned Saturday’s shooting of a Mexican citizen by a U.S. Border Patrol agent near Veterans International Bridge in Brownsville.
The Mexican Foreign Relations Ministry has questioned the way the U.S. government handles security along the Southwest border.
“The Mexican government has said once again that the disproportionate use of force for purposes of immigration enforcement is unacceptable under any circumstances,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Juan Pablo Perez Santillán, 30, died Saturday morning on the banks of the Rio Grande, reportedly from a bullet fired by a U.S. Border Patrol agent on the Brownsville side of the river.
Border Patrol said its agents opened fire in separate incidents that occurred about the same time Saturday near the Veterans International Bridge: once at rock throwers who were pelting border enforcers attempting to arrest illegal crossers; once at a man who aimed a gun at an agent from across the river.
Border Patrol spokesman Enrique Mendiola said at a press conference Monday that a rock attack is considered deadly force.
“We had an agent that spent almost a year (recovering) and had to have reconstructive surgery after being attacked with rocks,” Mendiola said about another agent injured while responding to a drug smuggling attempt at the Hidalgo-Reynosa border in April 2010.
Rock attacks targeting Border Patrol agents are common, with about 500 of them reported along the Southwest border in the last calendar year, Mendiola said, adding that if necessary, border agents won’t shy away from violence.
They “are well-trained and -equipped and will respond with necessary force to any aggression,” Mendiola said.
INVESTIGATION
The shooting occurred just south of Veterans Bridge when Border Patrol agents responded to reports of undocumented immigrants attempting to cross, Mendiola said. When the agents detained a group of people, they were pelted by rocks and one agent fired his weapon in self defense but didn’t hit anyone. About the same time, just south of that location, an agent saw a man pointing a weapon at him and fired.
The Mexican consul in Brownsville, Rodolfo Quilatán Arenas, said the man that Border Patrol claimed was holding a weapon was Perez, and they are trying to confirm whether he was armed.
“The Mexican government is confirming the death of an individual,” Mendiola said. “We are not confirming that information. We are confirming that our agents fired in self-defense after being placed in danger.”
Quilatán said that his office began working on the case soon after the shooting, and later that day, it sent a statement to Rosendo Hinojosa, chief of the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector, asking for a full investigation.
During the incident, Quilatán said, the Border Patrol detained three persons.
Quilatán said his office is working with its legal department to investigate not only a violation of national sovereignty but also a possible human rights violation.
FAMILY MOURNS
At a small house along a dirt road a few yards from the Rio Grande, about a dozen friends and family gathered Sunday afternoon, awaiting the body of their beloved Juan Pablo.
“My brother, Juan Pablo Perez Santillán, he’s dead,” Juanita Soto Santillán said through tears as she sat in a lawn chair outside the white-walled Los Pinos neighborhood home. A red wreath and a white-and-blue flower ornament was all the family could afford on short notice for the impromptu wake.
“My son Jorge … I don’t know what happened to him,” Soto said. “I want him here with me.
“I don’t know if he’s missing, if the (Border Patrol) got him, or … .” She trailed off.
Her 14-year-old son, it turned out, had been detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents.
SHOOTINGS
This was at least the second time in recent months when a Border Patrol agent stationed in the Brownsville area fired his weapon while on patrol.
In December, a Border Patrol agent fired his service weapon at several alleged drug smugglers who were throwing rocks at him and another agent also in Brownsville.
This incident happened near the B&M International Bridge.
The agents were on patrol when they encountered several people who appeared to be carrying bundles of marijuana, authorities said.
When the agents confronted the perons, they began throwing rocks at the agents.
A Border Patrol spokeswoman addressing the incident said the agents fired his weapon to defend himself and a fellow agent. The agents were not injured.
The agents recovered more than 13 pounds of marijuana that was left behind.
Don’t bring a rock to a gunfight.
Right! Then afterwards..Let God sort them out!
eric holder would know
Throwing rocks and brandishing a gun isn't "disproportionate threat" enough for you?
The mexican government would do well to clean it's own house.
“He was such a nice young man, and had such a bright future ahead of him!” /s
And how, exactly does mexico handle illegals at their southern border? Invite them in for tea?
And now,the Spanish translation:
The US needs to post our military on the border. Build machine gun nests with interlocking fields of fire. build a series of bunkers with underground tunnels so the troops could back each other up.
And then close the blasted border for good!
Just watch.... More Border Agents heading for prison...
For defending themselves.... Damn it! They should have used bean bags or turn and run like scared little girls.
Do you mean to tell me that they didn’t”Run and Hide”?Shame on them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mexican “officials” should consider being just a fraction as aggressive toward their drug cartels as they are toward the Border Patrol. Then again, there’s not a lot of money to be had in working with the BP.
Set up a wall along the southern border just like Israel’s. Give shoot to kill orders for anyone trying to invade America. That will discourage about 99% from trying it.
Sounds like one helluva shot.
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