The Border Patrol must be disbanded and its duties turned over to la Raza

Here is a very sad and disturbing story about one of the many atrocities being committed by the United States Border Patrol along the Mexican border.

On March 21st, a Border Patrol officer unjustly shot and killed an obviously innocent Mexican teenager named Carlos Lamadrid, who had fled back to the border wall in Douglas, Arizona in a truck transporting a mere forty-eight pounds of marijuana. As he tried to climb a ladder to the top of the wall and reach safety in Mexico, the agent shot and killed him.  The agent’s incredible excuse was that the young gentleman was pelting him with rocks – an allegation denied by a spokesperson for the protesters, who explained that someone else had thrown the rocks. Even if the allegation were true, that is no excuse;  as all right thinking people know, rocks are harmless and are used for that reason in some Arab countries to help young female persons not to be raped again.

Outraged Mexican residents of Douglas are revolting protesting the injustice.

Lamadrid is the third teen in a year to die in incidents that reportedly involved border patrol agents and rock-throwing. In June, a 15-year-old Mexican boy was shot by an agent after a group tried to illegally enter El Paso, Texas, and in January, a 17-year-old died after falling off the border wall in Nogales, Ariz., reportedly after being shot by border patrol agents.

The National Border Patrol Council says agents have a right to defend themselves. “When rocks are thrown at us, that is considered deadly force,” union spokesman Shawn Moran says and adds that such assaults have severely injured border patrol agents.

But rock-throwing is a pretext that poorly trained agents use to justify inadequate responses to varying levels of threats in border communities, critics say.

If Lamadrid was believed to be involved in illegal activity, he should have had his day in court, says Jennifer Allen, the leader of a Tucson human-rights group, Border Action Network. “Agents are not supposed to be judge, jury and executioner,” she adds.

President Obama must go immediately to Douglas and apologize for these atrocities which are inconsistent with all civilized rules of engagement. He must also order the disbanding of the Border Patrol and ask la Raza to take over its duties.