Thursday, January 20, 2011
Parents of dead Mexican teenager sue U.S. government
SAN ANTONIO, Tex. (Reuters) – The parents of a Mexican teenager allegedly killed last year by a bullet fired by a U.S. Border Patrol agent across the Rio Grande river, on Monday sued the U.S. government for $25 million.
The U.S. Border Patrol says Sergio Hernandez Guereca, 15, was pelting U.S. agents with rocks from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande river last June when Border Patrol agents on the U.S. side shot him to death.
But Bob Hilliard, attorney for the Mexican family, said today that the boy was the victim of "brutality" on the part of the federal agents, and was "shot in cold blood."
"We have seen brutality captured on video tape that stuns us as a country, when we think that law enforcement are trained and should not do that," Hilliard said.
The incident was videotaped by several individuals and was broadcast on the Spanish-language Univision television network, and posted on the internet. It has come to represent the lawless nature of the violence along the Texas Mexico border. It is unclear from the grainy cell phone video whether the boy was throwing rocks at the time.
"Part of this lawsuit seeks to require the government to turn over the border camera video and see it and get a better look at it," he said.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in El Paso, names the Department of Homeland Security, The U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and an "unnamed agent" of the U.S. Border Patrol as defendants.
"The parents are hopeful that the main thing they get is an accounting of the Border Patrol's conduct," Hilliard said, adding he is hoping that criminal charges will be filed against the agent.
The case has widened a gulf between the Border Patrol and activist groups who say the U.S. uses a heavy hand in dealing with issues regarding immigration and human smuggling.
The FBI has claimed that Hernandez was a known immigrant smuggler who had been pressed into service by smuggling gangs taking advantage of his youth. They said that Hernandez guided illegal immigrants into the United States, and they have said that he was attacking the border agents with rocks at the time.
"It was clear from the witness statements early on that something had happened that should not have happened," Hilliard said. "The U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, actually said an investigation into this young man's civil rights is ongoing. This is a serious international incident."
Hilliard said that since the gunman was a U.S. federal agent firing from U.S. soil, and the bullet traveled into another country and killed a person, jurisdiction will also be a major issue in this case. The shooting has been condemned by Mexico's president Felipe Calderon and has been the cause of demonstrations in Juarez, which is located across the river from El Paso and is one of the most violent cities in the world due to the ongoing war between powerful smuggling and drug gangs.
The agent who shot Hernandez has never been identified. •
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This happened in January 1996:
When minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new sessions of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:
THE PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good,," but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We confess:
We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the Name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In six short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa, and Korea.
Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on "The Rest of the Story" on the radio and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.
With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called one nation under God. •
Blessings- Missygirl*
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