Thread: Threats target Border Patrol agents

Threats target Border Patrol agents
By Diana Washington Valdez \ El Paso Times
Posted: 06/14/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT

EL PASO -- The Border Patrol confirmed Sunday that it has received threats since last week's shooting of a 15-year-old Juárez resident who allegedly threw rocks at a Border Patrol agent.

"We've received telephone calls with threats, and there's been intelligence to that effect, but so far the threats are uncorroborated," Border Patrol Agent Ramiro Cordero said Sunday.

"In the past, we've had bounties of $250,000 and $25,000 placed on the heads of our agents, but none of those threats were carried out. I do not believe we had a bounty specified by these latest threats."

Recently, graffiti cursing the Border Patrol appeared on the walls of the concrete Rio Grande channel. One statement on the walls says, "Sergio vive la lucha sigue" (Sergio lives the struggle continues), alluding to Sergio Adrián Hernández Güereca, the boy who was killed last week.

On Saturday, Border Patrol agents wearing riot gear stood near the railroad tracks in South El Paso while youths threw rocks at the U.S. side of the border and cut a hole in a U.S. chain link fence, officials said.

"It was a direct response to what was taking place on Saturday, in case anything went wrong," Cordero said Sunday. "Our agents showed tremendous restraint while safeguarding our border. We had no reports of injuries or damage to our agents or their vehicles."

A group of unidentified youths had walked from Juárez across the Rio Grande bed for a rock-throwing and vandalism session that lasted more than an hour.

They had joined the Saturday afternoon rally that the Frente Diverso Democratico organized near the Paso del Norte bridge to protest the June 7 shooting death of Hernández by a Border Patrol agent.

The gathering was peaceful until several youths broke away and crossed over to the U.S. side of the border to throw rocks where U.S. agents were patrolling.

During the rally, which organizers described as a cultural protest, Hernández's family washed blood away from the spot where the boy fell over after he was mortally wounded.

The Border Patrol agent, who has not been identified, was on the U.S. side of the border when he allegedly fired toward the boy's direction. Hernández was standing on the Mexican side of the border when he was throwing rocks at the agent.

FBI officials said the Border Patrol agent was trying to hold down a suspect whom he caught trying to cross the border illegally near the Paso del Norte Bridge.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said a proper border fence could have prevented the shooting.

King said Hernández was charged in the United States with alien smuggling in 2009, and appeared on a most-wanted list of juvenile smugglers compiled by authorities in El Paso.

"When faced with a life-threatening situation, this agent appears to have responded to lethal force with lethal force as authorized," King said in a statement. "But, this incident could have been avoided if the administration had lived up to its responsibility under the Secure Fence Act to build fences on our border.

"A border wall would dramatically reduce illegal immigration, and it would give Border Patrol agents protection from violent assaults that they now face. If we are serious about ending violence along the border, we must make the construction and completion of border fences our priority."

Last week, the U.S. attorney's office announced that it was investigating whether the agent violated Hernández's civil rights.

Chihuahua state officials were in charge of the investigation on the Mexican side until Mexico's federal attorney general decided to take over the case because the death occurred on federal property, the Mexican side of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC).

"Although Mexico and the United States are conducting separate investigations, they will exchange information to advance the overall investigation," said Adrian Sosa Morales, spokesman for the Mexican consulate in El Paso."For example, Mexico needs to know whether the shell casings match the U.S. agent's weapon."

The U.S. and Mexican commissions of the IBWC oversee boundary issues along the border.

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6140.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_15291569

Mexico wants to see if the shell casings match the Border agents weapon.....
Didn't reports say Mexican soldiers crossed to the U.S. side and picked up something before returning to Mexico. Could the something they picked up be a shell casing from the agent's gun???????

If the Mexican soldiers tampered with evidence, doesn't that contaminate the entire case?

No one is sure what the Mexican officers picked up but as far as I know, they picked whatever it was up on the Mexican side, not the US side. The rumor was that it was a bullet casing and could have been from the agent's gun.
Meanwhile...here's something new.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_15291094

Times Q&A: Ex-agent says Border Patrol has grown, but dangers remain
By Maggie Ybarra \ EL PASO TIMES
Posted: 06/14/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT

EL PASO -- Border Patrol agents are receiving heavy national attention this month. The spotlight is on them because of a confrontation in which an agent in El Paso allegedly shot and killed a 15-year-old Mexican boy.
The agent said rocks were thrown at him before he fired. Investigations of the shooting are underway in the United States and Mexico.

Working agents usually are tight-lipped about what they do. John Hubert, a retired agent and field operations supervisor with 30 years of Border Patrol experience, is under no strictures. He talked about the demands of the job, and what it's like to enforce the law on America's southern border.

Q Why are Border Patrol agents so secretive about their jobs?

A I learned early on that if you're a Border Patrol agent in El Paso... basically you're an object of scorn to about 75 percent of the population. But if you get away from the border and go somewhere else, people look at the Border Patrol agent as one of the upper-level law enforcement officers in the U.S. If you go to Dallas and tell them you're a Border Patrol agent, there's a lot of respect. If you tell someone in El Paso you're a Border Patrol agent, well, I've seen restaurants refuse to serve Border Patrol agents. You go in there in your uniform and they tell you to leave.

Q If there was something you could change for Border Patrol agents right now, what would that be?

A More support on an agency level. I just heard today that the attorney general ... that they're looking into the civil rights violations (in the recent shooting case). More than likely, he has the support of everybody on the local level but once you get out of El Paso and into the upper levels of management and into the central office of Washington, D.C., it's gone. The FBI is going to do their investigation, and they'll do a great investigation, but when you get the attorney general up there already commenting on, "We're going to look into what if this guy's civil rights were violated?" What does that do for the guy in the field?

Q What major changes did you see in a 30-year career?

A The size of the Border Patrol. When I came to El Paso there was a 100-man station, which was the biggest station in the Border Patrol, and there were about 1,000 Border Patrol agents. Now there's about 14,000 to 15,000 Border Patrol agents and about 300 per station. Also, there has been a significant increase in narcotics smuggling and the level of violence associated with that.

Q What are some of the major differences you see between being a Border Patrol agent back then and what Border Patrol agents are dealing with now?

A Policy mainly. The Border Patrol, at that time, was part of the Department of Justice. Now they're a part of the Department of Homeland Security. Basically, they're just another alphabet agency. They have the same tasks to perform, but they're under completely different guidelines and a completely different structure. There are more politics involved in the administration of the Border Patrol than there were 10 years or longer ago.

Q What is the scariest case you recall as a Border Patrol agent?

A I was attacked one time by a group of seven men with rocks, and I was pretty severely injured. Of course, you know, you get into situations where the next guy available is more than 45 minutes away and a situation where you're on your own, if it isn't handled right, can go terribly wrong.

Q When you were hit with rocks how did you defend yourself?

A You do what you have to do to protect yourself. In the situation I was involved with, I did receive quite a few serious injuries and I was off work a week or two. Being assaulted is not really that uncommon. Whether it's rocks being thrown at you or a hand-to-hand combat situation or being shot at, it's not particularly uncommon.

Mexico and the Mexican people are intent on invading and occupying the United States. They are both racist and nationalist and have zero intent on assimilating into American society and becoming part of our country.

Q Why are Border Patrol agents so secretive about their jobs? Q Why are Border Patrol agents so secretive about their jobs?

Call the Obama administration about the gag order they have been placed under.

There would be no bullet casing near the body. The casing would have been discharged next to the BP agent or still in his gun. I believe they picked up the boy's property that they wanted like drugs or money. What would a corrupt cop do?

Dixie

Added to homepage
http://www.alipac.us/article5356.html

This initial report says that the Mexicans crossed to the USside and picked up something. They could have piced up several somethings to include all of the above mentioned. But, the videos that have been released, show the agent firing from the US side and that he did not cross to the Mexican side.
In order for the Mexicans to have a casing the gun would have had to have jacked the shell that far or they crossed and pickd it up. The Justice Department and the Mexican government have the below mentioned video. Will it ever be made public? JMO

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-202414.html

Each government has made veiled accusations suggesting misconduct on the part of the other's law enforcement agents.

Hernandez was found 20 feet (six meters) into Mexico, and an autopsy revealed that the fatal shot was fired at a relatively close range, according to Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state attorney general's office. Mexican authorities said a .40 caliber shell casing was found near the body, suggesting that the Border Patrol agent might have crossed into Mexico to shoot the boy.

That would violate the rules for Border Patrol agents, who are supposed to stay on the U.S. side — and could open the agent to a Mexican homicide prosecution.

A U.S. official close to the investigation told the AP that authorities have a video showing that the Border Patrol agent did not cross into Mexico. In fact, the official said, the video shows what appear to be members of Mexican law enforcement crossing onto the U.S. side, picking something up and returning to Mexico. The official was not cleared to speak about the video and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Alejandro Pariente, Chihuahua state's regional deputy attorney general, said the U.S. Border Patrol has given him video which he is reviewing. He declined to describe it except to say that it has sped up the investigation.

Here's a U-Tube video from 2007 of a Hannity show that fully illustrates just how often agents are threatened with rocks. It's really kind of shocking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKMgPN_Z ... re=related

Having lived along the border for the past 30 years I've seen changes in the illegal who comes across(more prone to fight in my opinion) and the tactics of agents.

Locals in small towns "appear" to view their towns as Mexico while drawing some type of US government aid, in fact families of agents(mexican-American) are ostracized by relatives and friends.

The southwest border is a war zone more corrupt on both sides and a greater threat to this nation then Iraq or Afghanistan and the political correctness and restrictions placed on our agents places them in danger and in my opinion prevent them from doing the job they were hired to do.

These policies were in effect last administration also and unless those in power see the impact on this country it will never change.

SEEING THAT THOSE ON THE MEXICAN SIDE ARE HELL BOUND AND INTENT ON BREWING UP TROUBLE BY THE ACTIONS OF THOSE WHO CROSSED INTO THE U.S. IN ORDER TO THROW ROCKS AT OUT BP AGENTS, WELL THIS SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO SUSPEND ANY INVESTIGATION BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL IMO, THESE BORDER AGENTS CIVIL RIGHTS ARE BEING VIOLATED BY THESE MEXICAN THUGS WHO ARE JUST ASKING FOR TROUBLE. ITS TIME THAT OUR GOVERNMENT START STANDING UP FOR THESE AGENTS AND DO THE RIGHT THING BY THEM