US Border Agents Should Not Have Immunity In Cross-Border Shootings - Advocacy Group

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th February, 2020) US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents should not have immunity in fatal cross-border shootings, American Civil Liberties Union Attorney Lee Gelernt said in a statement on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, the US Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling said the US Constitution does not allow the family of a Mexican teenager killed in a cross-border shooting in 2010 to sue the CBP agent involved in the incident.

"Border agents should not have immunity to fatally shoot Mexican teenagers on the other side of the border fence," Gelernt said in the statement. "The Constitution does not stop at the border."

In June 2010, a border patrol agent standing on the American side of the southern border fired his weapon after a group of Mexican teenagers were allegedly throwing rocks at him while he apprehended one of boys from the group. One of the bullets struck and killed 15-year-old Mexican Sergio Adrian Hernandez, who was on the Mexican side of the border.

The agent said the boys were attempting to illegally cross into the United States, but the family argued that the boys were playing a game that involved running to the American side of the border and back.

The incident occurred along the US-Mexico border between the Texas city of El Paso and the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez.