US-Mexico Border Deaths: 42 People Killed By Agents Since 2005 With No Disciplinary Action, Says Arizona Republic

An investigation by the Arizona Republic has found that Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have killed at least 42 people while on duty since 2005, including at least 13 American citizens. Agents who have employed deadly force have faced little, if any, public disciplinary actions in consequence, the paper wrote, "even in cases in which the justification for the shooting seems dubious", adding that many of the deaths occurred under circumstances which were "virtually identical to hundreds of encounters that other agents resolved without lethal force and without serious injuries to either side."

The investigation found that the "vast majority" of agents from the two immigration agencies typically responded to conflict - even of a potentially deadly sort - with restraint. But the Republican added that the CBP's policy of not disclosing the names of agents who use deadly force, and refusing to comment on whether deadly force was justified when it is used, constitutes a lack of transparency which "goes against the 'best practices' that national police organizations recommend for dealing with deadly-force incidents".

The paper's investigation, which made use of nearly 12,000 pages of documents from almost 1,600 use-of-force cases by the Border Patrol and CBP between 2010 and May 2012, also sheds light on what is describes as at least three cases in which agents shot unarmed teenagers in the back. That sort of case dredges up ugly memories: 14 months ago, 16-year-old José Antonio Elena-Rodríguez was shot dead on a street in the Mexican border city of Nogales after Border Patrol agents fired through the border fence into Mexico, hitting the teenager 10 times in the back and head. The Border Patrol says officers were defending themselves against rocks thrown by men carrying drugs on their bodies into the US. The teenager's family has filed civil lawsuits over the death.

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