Her name was Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzales. She traveled 1500 miles from her native home in Guatemala. It was not an easy trip. In fact, the 1500 mile trek was fraught with danger and personal risk. Each mile she maneuvered up through the heart of Mexico to reach the U.S. border was driven by her desire to reach the “American Dream” where her degree in accounting would bring her steady employment—something she had been unable to find in her own homeland.
20-Year-Old Murdered in Cold Blood by Border Patrol
The 20-year-old Gonzales crossed the U.S. border illegally near Laredo, Texas—just 170 south of San Antonio where friendly surroundings awaited her. Several other undocumented immigrants crossed the border with her. Within a matter of minutes, they were confronted by a 15-year veteran of the Border Patrol. He ordered everyone to lie on the ground.
What happened next is unclear. What is clear is that the agent deliberately shot Gonzales in the head, killing her instantly. The agent was heard telling the rest of the group, “This is what happens. You see?”
What happens is this: the Border Patrol agent—unquestionably influenced by President Trump’s references to undocumented immigrants as animals, rapists and murderers, and AIDS carriers—believed he could express his personal animosity against undocumented immigrants through the barrel of his gun. That’s because the President of the United States has given the Border Patrol a license to be as lawless as they feel is necessary to carry out his “get tough” policies on undocumented immigrants.
“What also happens” is that agents like the one who gunned down Gonzales for no good reason feel they have an unfettered right to kill undocumented immigrants for an arrogant look, a smart-aleck remark, or for no reason at all, as was the case with Gonzales.
50 People Gunned Down by Border Patrol
Since January 2010, Border Patrol have gunned down more than 50 undocumented immigrants, and murdered at least one 15-year-old kid playing a juvenile game with other teenagers on Mexican soil. The Border Patrol now believes it has absolute authority to do what it damn well pleases to both citizens and non-citizens within 100 miles of the nation’s borders where two-third of the nation’s population resides.
The Border Patrol initially tried to justify the killing of Gonzales with the lie of the veteran agent who said he was charged by the group who had blunt objects in their hands. But that official lie was quickly discarded after a cellphone video of the aftermath of the shooting incident was posted on Facebook by Marta Martinez.
“I don’t think there was no reason to shoot a girl like that, not in the head,” Martinez was quoted by the media as saying.
Gonzales’s aunt was blunter during a news conference: “It’s not fair that they [Border Patrol] treat them [undocumented immigrants] like animals, just because they come from countries less developed.”
Border Patrol Intimidates Witness
Martinez now fears for her personal safety. She told the media that since posting the Facebook video, Border Patrol agents have been stopping outside her home as a show of intimidation.
“I recorded,” she said. “I went viral everywhere. I don’t know but I’m scared they could do something to us.”
Is this where we are as a nation? Citizens who report law enforcement misconduct must live in fear of physical retaliation by the police?
There is nothing that would surprise us about the Border Patrol. They are undeniably the most lawless, out-of-control law enforcement agency in the United States. They enforce the president’s immigration policies much like the drug cartels enforce law and order in Mexico. Earlier this year a Border Patrol agent was indicted in federal court for lying about his connections to Mexican drug cartels.
Lawlessness, and official corruption, has become the new norm in this country—the “swamp” has not been drained; in fact, it has quadrupled in size, and is spreading like the 1918 flu pandemic. Integrity is now measured by the ability to lie and honor is now defined by one’s ability to cheat and steal. The only thing drained out of America since the election of Donald J. Trump as president has been the moral fiber of this nation—and the lawlessness and corruption of the U.S. Border Patrol is worn as a badge of honor by his White House.