Thread: Justice Department Civil Rights Division Investigating Arizona Border Patrol Shooting

The investigations could represent a shift in how the administration handles cross-border violence

posted on Aug. 24, 2014, at 8:18 p.m.
John Stanton
buzzfeed.com


16 year old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez was shot by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in 2012 while walking in Nogales, Mexico. John Stanton

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has launched at least two investigations into Customs and Border Protection personnel based in Arizona over shooting deaths, as part of a broader effort to clamp down on violence and allegations of human rights violations.

CBP, and in particular the Tucson Sector in Arizona, use of force against undocumented immigrants and Mexican citizens inside their home country has come under increasing scrutiny over the last year, and the investigations come on the heels of a federal civil lawsuit filed by the family of a 16-year-old Nogales, Mexico, boy who was killed during a cross-border shooting by CBP.

The involvement of Justice Department headquarters could represent a significant shift in how the Obama administration is addressing violence along the border. FBI investigators almost never bring criminal charges against CBP agents and officers, and human rights organizations have accused the administration of turning a blind eye towards the border.

A Department of Justice spokesperson declined to comment. But a law enforcement official familiar with the investigations confirmed personnel from Justice’s Civil Rights Division took part in a crime-scene visit last week in Nogales, Mexico, to investigate the 2012 shooting of Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez.

According to the Nogales International, which first reported the Nogales visit, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Wallace Kleindienst and Karen Rolley and other federal officials joined their Mexican counterparts in the visit to the site of the shooting.

Although Kleindienst and Rolley are veteran prosecutors based in Arizona, the broader investigation into complaints against CBP is being run out of the civil rights division’s D.C. office. “In general, when these types of cases come up they are run out of the civil rights division in Washington, D.C.,” the law enforcement official explained.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnstanton/...g-arizo#lf96vr

by Caroline May 25 Aug 2014, 1:36 PM PDT
breitbart



The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is investigating the use of force by Customs and Border Protection agents in Arizona, according to a Buzzfeed report.

According to Buzzfeed, the Civil Rights Division has opened at least two investigations into CBP shooting deaths in Arizona.

“The involvement of Justice Department headquarters could represent a significant shift in how the Obama administration is addressing violence along the border,” Buzzfeed’s John Stanton reported Sunday night. “FBI investigators almost never bring criminal charges against CBP agents and officers, and human rights organizations have accused the administration of turning a blind eye towards the border.”

Neither the Justice Department nor Customs and Border Protection responded to Breitbart News’s requests for comment Monday.

According to a Friday report in the Nogales International, however, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Wallace Kleindienst and Karen Rolley were at the location of CBP’s 2012 shooting death of Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez along the Arizona-Mexico border last week. Buzzfeed reported Sunday as well that a law enforcement source said Civil Rights Division staff were on the scene.

Elena Rodriguez was a 16-year-old Mexican who died on the Mexico side of the border after Border Patrol shot him. CBP has argued that Elena Rodriguez was throwing rocks at Border Patrol agents.

The investigations come less than a month after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Border Patrol on behalf of Elena Rodriguez’s family.

“I don’t think that timing was necessarily coincidental,” James Lyall, ACLU of Arizona staff attorney, told Nogales International about the timing of the federal investigators’ visit to the shooting scene. “Certainly, there was nothing preventing them from doing this many months ago. I think it’s an open question as to why it took almost two years for this step to be taken.”

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...trol-Shootings