by Alex Galbraith
A second border killing by U.S. agents in two weeks has officials scrambling for an explanation to give Mexican officials. Sergio Adrián Hernández Güereca, 15, was shot in the head June 6 by an unnamed Border Patrol agent. Anastasio Hernández Rojas,32, died May 31 after being beaten and tased by Border Patrol agents on May 25 at the San Ysidro border checkpoint
According to Border Patrol reports on the June 6 shooting, its agents on bicycles were pelted with rocks while apprehending migrants crossing the border between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, and responded in self-defense.
“The rocks were large, solid objects capable of causing serious damage and even killing him,” said National Border Patrol Council president TJ Bonner.
“There’s an old adage in law enforcement that it’s better to be tried by 12 than to be carried by six.
Juan Hernández, Sergio’s father, told the El Paso Times his son was just hanging out near the river. “He shouldn’t have gotten close to those cowards,” he said.
Both the Mexican and U.S. governments are trying to determine whether Hernández was throwing rocks or posed a credible threat.
Chihuahua state police said Hernández died on the Mexican side of the border. Investigators retrieved a .40-caliber bullet casing near the body, raising questions as to which side of the border the agents were on at the time of the shooting. This incident is the most recent in a string of violence between U.S. agents and people trying to cross the border.
According to Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department,the number of Mexicans killed or wounded by U.S. authorities escalated from five in 2008 to 12 in 2009 to 17 in the first half of 2010.
Mexico President’s Felipe Calderón called the act a disproportionate use of force on the part of U.S. authorities, stating Mexico “will use all resources avail-able to protect the rights of Mexican migrants.”
Governor José Reyes Baeza of Chihuahua blamed “xenophobic and racist conduct” on Arizona’s im- migration law.
