Mexico Asks U.S. to Probe Actions of Border Patrol

SAN DIEGO —  The Mexican Embassy has filed a complaint with the U.S. State Department, asking for an investigation of two border incidents last month in which one Mexican youth was run over and killed by a Border Patrol vehicle and another was shot and wounded by a Border Patrol agent.

Marcela Merina, spokeswoman for the Mexican Consulate in San Diego, on Tuesday categorized the action by the embassy in Washington as “a show of concern about these incidents along the border” and said the complaint, filed Friday, was not an official diplomatic protest.

The first incident occurred Aug. 20 in the predawn hours when Luis Eduardo Hernandez Hernandez, 14, was run over by a Border Patrol vehicle less than a mile west of the San Ysidro port of entry.

In the second incident on Aug. 27, Pedro Garcia Hernandez, 15, was shot once in the stomach by an agent who said the youth had grabbed a “softball-sized” rock and was going to throw it at another agent. Like the previous incident, the shooting occurred just west of the San Ysidro port of entry.

“Regarding the first of the two incidents . . . this is not the first time that a Mexican citizen (has been) run over by a INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) vehicle when trying to escape from the U.S. Border Patrol,” the Mexican complaint said. “With regard to the second, the response of the INS agent, to maim or kill, was clearly out of proportion to the threat of having a stone thrown at him.”

Luis, who was from the Mexican state of Jalisco, died while trying to enter the United States with his 15-year-old brother. The two were en route to Los Angeles to reunite with their father. Border Patrol officials said the vehicle that killed the boy was traveling 15 m.p.h., but a lawyer representing the family said it was being driven recklessly at high speed.

Pedro, a Tijuana orphan, lived in an abandoned car near the border and said he was just walking in the area when he was shot. He denied throwing any rocks.

Merina said that Mexican officials have also asked the State Department to investigate another incident that occurred less than two hours before Pedro was shot. In that incident, three U.S. journalists witnessed a Border Patrol agent use his vehicle’s public address system to taunt and shout obscenities at hundreds of immigrants waiting along the border near where the youth was shot.

Border Patrol spokesman Michael Gregg said the taunting incident is under investigation by the office of the inspector general. San Diego police are investigating the other two incidents, but the Border Patrol cleared the agents of any wrongdoing.