U.S. Supreme Court rules Border Patrol agents who shoot into Mexico cannot be sued

Washington, February 27 (RHC)-- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a sharply divided 5-4 decision 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.