Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Mexico Demands Investigation After Youth Is Killed by United States Border Patrol

Wednesday, 9 June 2010 01:39 UK

The body was found on the Mexican side of the border

Mexico has demanded a full investigation after a Mexican boy died after apparently being shot by a US border patrol agent.

Mexican police said the youth was killed close to the bridge linking the border cities of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.

The US border patrol said one of its agents had fired his weapon after stones were thrown at him.

The FBI says it is investigating the incident.

'Disproportionate force'

"We energetically condemn the death of a minor near the international border crossing in Ciudad Juarez", the Mexican foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Using firearms to respond to an attack with rocks is a disproportionate use of force, particularly coming from a officials that are specially trained," it said.

"A worrying increase in the use of excessive force" showed the need for greater cooperation on border security, it added.

The FBI said the agent opened fire during a confrontation with a group of suspected illegal aliens trying to enter the US.

It said two people were arrested but the others retreated into Mexico, throwing rocks.

"The subjects surrounded the agent and continued to throw rocks at him. The agent then fired his service weapon several times, striking one subject who later died."

The boy has been identified as 14-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez.

Photographs show his body lying on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.

His mother, Guadelupe Huereca, denied reports he had been trying to cross the border.

"He was not going to cross to El Paso, it is not true, he was here in Mexico. They killed him in Mexico," she said.

The issue of illegal migration, and the treatment of Mexicans on the border, is a source of abiding tension between the United States and Mexico.

Last week Mexico made similar protests over the death of a Mexican migrant after he was given electric shocks by US agents who were trying to deport him.

There has also been anger in Mexico over a new law in the US state of Arizona, which requires police to question people about their immigration status, if officers suspect they are in the US illegally, and if they have stopped them for a legitimate reason.

But in the US, there's substantial political support for stronger measures to stop the flow of illegal migrants across the Mexican border.

Mexicans make up three-quarters of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the US.

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