Iowa senator says proper fence could have prevented border shooting
Sunday, June 13, 2010 4:02 PM




(Source: El Paso Times)By Diana Washington Valdez

Jun. 13--U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said a proper border fence could have prevented last Monday's shooting by a Border Patrol agent of a 15-year-old Juarez resident.

King said Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, the shooting victim, 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 Hernandez's civil rights. U.S. officials have not identified the Border Patrol agent, and have not given a reason for withholding the information except to say that it is for safety reasons.

FBI officials have said the agent shot the boy after the boy began throwing rocks at him while the agent was trying to hold down a suspect near the Paso del Norte bridge.

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