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Supreme Court Rules Border Patrol Agents Who Shoot into Mexico Can’t Be Sued

HeadlineFeb 26, 2020

The Supreme Court ruled in a sharply divided 5-4 decision Tuesday that the family of a 15-year-old Mexican teen killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent a decade ago cannot sue the officer in federal court without the approval of the U.S. Congress. In 2010, the teenager, Sergio Adrián Hernández Güereca, was shot across the El Paso-Juárez border by U.S. Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa Jr. It’s the latest example of impunity for U.S. Border Patrol officers who commit homicide across the Mexican border. In 2018, a federal jury in Tucson, Arizona, found Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz not guilty of manslaughter for shooting and killing 16-year-old José Rodríguez through the U.S.-Mexico border fence in 2012. Click here to see Democracy Now!'s coverage of Rodríguez's case and our interview with his family in Nogales, Mexico.

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