Human Rights Watch Weighs in on US Border Patrol Killing of Mexican Teen Human Rights Watch
go to original May 10, 2016

A 2014 investigation showed the Mexican teen was shot multiple times while on the ground (Fusion)

Update: Mexico Intervenes in Case of Minor Murdered by US Police Agent (Prensa Latina)

A United States Border Patrol Agent who shot an unarmed Mexican teenager in the back across the border should not escape justice if the shooting was unlawful, Human Rights Watch said in a friend-of-the-court brief.

In the brief, filed in a federal appeals court late last week, Human Rights Watch says international standards require law enforcement officers to use force only when it is necessary and proportionate. The law firm Constantine Cannon LLP served as counsel on the brief.

“On the facts in the complaint, this killing unambiguously violates international standards for the use of force by law enforcement officers,” said Sarah Poppy Alexander, an associate with Constantine Cannon. “An unarmed child standing on a public street would have posed no immediate threat to Agent Swartz, who was behind a border fence 40 to 50 feet above street level.”



Click image to view full graphic illustration of the shooting scene (PDF)

Human Rights Watch filed the amicus brief in the case of Rodriguez v. Swartz, to support the claim of the mother of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez. A US Border Patrol agent, Lonnie Ray Swartz, shot the teenager approximately 10 times in the back in October 2012, killing him. Elena Rodriguez was standing near the border fence in Nogales, Mexico, and Agent Swartz shot from the US side of the border.

International human rights law obliges the United States to prevent, investigate and ensure accountability for violent cross-border abuses by US Border Patrol agents, Human Rights Watch said.

Read the rest at Human Rights Watch

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