The following statement on the disturbing news today that Customs and Border Protection personnel will not face criminal charges in the beating death of a Mexican national at the San Diego-Tijuana border can be attributed to Mitra Ebadolahi, attorney with our Border Litigation Project.
DOJ’s decision not to pursue any federal criminal civil rights or other charges against the CBP officers involved in the horrifying beating death of Mexican national Anastasio Hernandez-Rojas in 2010 is appalling.
The DOJ contends that it “cannot disprove the agents’ claim that they used reasonable force in an attempt to subdue and restrain a combative detainee.”
Yet eyewitness video shows that Hernandez-Rojas was fully restrained, in handcuffs, while a dozen federal officers brutally beat and Tased him.
Today’s announcement undermines DOJ’s credibility at a time when the agency is ostensibly pushing for police accountability nationwide. Five and a half years after Hernandez-Rojas’s untimely death, DOJ’s choice to allow the officers involved in this homicide to walk free is contrary to any notion of justice or accountability, and is a devastating blow for border communities who continue to suffer widespread abuse at the hands of unaccountable federal agents.
Our thoughts are with the Hernandez-Rojas family, who deserve much more.
More on the horrific beating of Anastasio Hernandez-Rojas can be found here.
