US Border Patrol Clears Its Agents in 19 Shooting Deaths of Unarmed Immigrants Aaron Morrison - International Business Times
go to original June 15, 2015

Zelma Berenice Barron holds a photo of her son Ramses Barron Torres, who was killed by a Border Patrol agent on Jan. 5, 2011, during a protest in October 2012. (Curt Prendergast)

Human rights advocates and civil rights groups say the lives of border crossers don’t matter to the law enforcement agencies charged with guarding the U.S. border. An internal investigation of 67 shootings carried out by agents of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has cleared nearly every patrolman of wrongdoing, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

In all but three of the shootings, which left 19 people dead, criminal misconduct charges will not be filed against the agents, officials confirmed. The internal investigation was completed last month.

Anthony Triplett, an official who directed the Border Patrol investigation, said two agents did face disciplinary action. But both received oral reprimands.

Activists along the southwest U.S. border and in Mexico have argued that Border Patrol agents are rarely held accountable in cases of alleged abuses. The internal investigation isn’t good enough, a civil rights group said.

"Turning the page doesn't mean burying the past," Chris Rickerd, a border security expert at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the LA Times. "There is no assurance to border residents that agents who have used excessive, improper lethal force aren't on the job in their communities."

Read the rest at International Business Times

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