Follow-up to my previous post:
Immigrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Border Patrol killings
In January 2007, a Border Patrol agent, whom the Border Patrol claimed believed his life was in danger, shot and killed Francisco Javier Domínguez Rivera, age 22. Mexico lodged an official protest with the United States over this stating its “firm condemnation” and “serious concern over the recurrence of this type of incident.” The note demanded an exhaustive investigation. Though the incident was recorded by surveillance cameras, the recording was not very clear. The FBI is investigating the incident, and the Border Patrol agent has been put on administrative leave. The mother of the deceased Mexican has called for the death penalty for the law officer.[citation needed]
In January 2006, an eight year veteran of the Border Patrol, who a Border Patrol spokesman said believed his life to be in jeopardy, shot and killed Guillermo Martínez Rodríguez, age 20, with a single gunshot to the back of his right shoulder. Rodriguez died the next day. The law enforcement officer was fearful of stones which were being thrown at him.
Raúl Martínez, who is not related to the man who died, said assaults on agents have increased "dramatically" in the area where the shooting took place, about a half-mile east of the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Agents are routinely pelted with rocks, sticks, bottles and other objects that, if thrown at close range, can cause serious injury or death, Martínez said. Agents have to make split-second decisions to protect themselves. "If I was put in the same shoes of this agent, that's exactly what we'd have to do. The possibility of a rock striking me or possibly killing me — it's unfortunate situations have to come to this point," the Border Patrol spokesman said.
In May 2000, an undocumented immigrant was shot in the shoulder by a border patrolman near Brownsville, Texas, and died later from the wounds.
On May 28, 1994, Martín García Martínez, age 30, was shot by a Border Patrol agent at the San Ysidro port of entry. He died on July 3 as a result of his injuries.
According to Rodolfo Acuña, a Chicano activist and Professor Emeritus of Chicano Studies at California State University, "Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported 117 cases of human rights abuses by US officials against migrants from 1988 to 1990, including fourteen deaths. During the 1980s, Border Patrol agents shot dozens of people, killing eleven and permanently disabling ten."
Vigilante Killings
In May 2005, a masked vigilante with an assault rifle and military fatigues attacked a group of 18 Mexican immigrants on the border near Columbus, New Mexico, killing Apolinar Ortega Sánchez.
At least two Mexicans have been killed and seven wounded by vigilante groups patrolling the arid badlands of Arizona's Cochise County to enforce border security and round up migrants. Ranchers have expressed frustration at the crime, pollution, and vandalism that they (and other sources) state migrants bring with them. Barbara Coe, an anti-immigration lobbyist from California, blames the vigilante behaviour on government apathy and calls these migrants "illegal immigrant savages".
In 2000, the United Nations opened an investigation into vigilante killings of migrants crossing Mexico's border with the USA. A senior UN investigator was dispatched to the border country close to where a 74-year-old rancher was charged with killing Eusebio de Haro, an unarmed Mexican he tried to subdue for the border patrol and fatally shot in the back of the thigh after pursuing him a quarter mile down the road in his truck.
Intentional killings
It is often very difficult for the police to identify the suspects, because many groups might be involved. Authorities think that most of the more violent deaths were orchestrated by undocumented immigrant smugglers, known as coyotes.
The coyotes, a term used to describe people who smuggle undocumented immigrants into the United States for a profit, are infamous for the way in which they treat their clients, who are also often deemed as "human cargo." Cases of rape and beatings by coyotes have been reported by undocumented immigrants who were smuggled into the United States by coyotes. The number of times this has happened is hard to ascertain since many undocumented immigrants fear they would be deported if they went to the police for help, and because the coyotes often threaten to hurt family members that are still in their native countries.
On February 8, 2007, four gunmen of unknown nationality opened fire on a truck carrying illegal immigrants in the Ironwood Forest National Monument, killing two men and a 15-year-old girl. The incidence was covered on the front page of every major newspaper in Mexico City.
Due to the typically violent nature of some of the coyotes, they are common targets of finger pointing by law enforcement when bodies of murdered undocumented immigrants have been found on the United States side of the border.
International consequences
More people have died crossing the US-Mexican border than trying to escape from the Berlin Wall. Every year about 400 people die crossing the US-Mexican border and only 239 deaths can be attributed to the Berlin Wall's entire time it was up.
The deaths have caused tension between the United States and other countries, particularly Mexico, from where a majority of illegal immigrants that enter the United States through the Southwestern borders come. General consulates across the Southwest United States, in particular those of Latin American countries, have condemned the deaths of immigrants across the border.
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