Al Jazeera America debuts the latest in the Faultlines documentary series, Cross Border Killings, about the recent spate of Border Patrol agent-involved shootings, at 7 p.m. tonight. The screening will be followed by an informal conversation the situation on the U.S./Mexico border.
The UA School of Journalism is hosting a community viewing of the documentary following by an informal conversation about the film and the border issues, from 6:45 to 8:30 p.m. in room 312 on the third floor of the Marshall Building. (That’s on the southwest corner of Park Avenue and Second Street; there will be someone at the east entrance to let you into the building.)
From Al Jazeera America:
In October 2012, a US Border Patrol agent fired through the 20 foot steel fence separating Nogales, Arizona from Nogales, Mexico and killed an unarmed 16-year-old Mexican boy with 10 bullets through his body. This was not an isolated incident by a rogue agent, but just the latest in a string of cross-border shootings that raise serious questions about oversight and accountability of the Border Patrol. In the last three years, Border Patrol agents have killed 6 Mexican citizens on their native soil, firing through the border to threaten and injure even more. One man was shot while picnicking with his family on the banks of the Rio Grande. Another 15 year-old-boy was hit between the eyes with a bullet for allegedly throwing rocks. None of these cases has led to any known disciplinary action or criminal charges against the border police, and US courts have rejected claims made by victims’ families, asserting that Mexican citizens do not have the same constitutional protections as US citizens, effectively giving the agents carte blanche to act with impunity. In this episode, Fault Lines travels to the border town of Nogales — presently the nexus for this increasingly lawless law enforcement — to meet the Mexican families who have lost their young sons at the hands of US agents who many accuse of being immune from the law.
This article appears in Sep 5-11, 2013.
Wow, what a journalist hit piece this is. Not interested in hearing more about how you don’t think the border patrol is doing their job. Can’t have it both way folks, either the border is closed or it is open for whatever anyone wants to have and do. We owe these families nothing.
What a ridiculous comment. No one is arguing that the border should be “open.” This issue is about accountability. “We owe these families nothing” ?? Unbelievably callous.