Modern Conflicts

Lastly, was our visit to the site where, Jose Antonio, a sixteen-year old boy was shot and killed by a US border patrol agent, allegedly from the other side of the fence.  I could not help but parallel this execution with that of Dario Miranda’s, which took place twenty something years prior.  This ultimately got me thinking that sure, Nogales has grown in population but the issues that Davidson described from twenty years ago are still present today.  A major issue is the lack of accountability; law enforcement officials along the border are not disciplined for their unlawful actions and when they are they are getting off with a slap on the hand.  The border patrol agent that shot Dario Miranda shot him in the back and Dario was unarmed, his body was dragged, and the agent was going to attempt to get rid of the evidence.

In Jose Antonio’s case, in 2012, the boy was also shot in the back, multiple times, and was unarmed.  Even if a person was throwing rocks, as claimed by the border patrol agent that shot Jose Antonio, that should not warrant a law enforcement official to kill a person. In visiting the site, I cannot fathom that a rock thrown from where Jose Antonio was shot could harm a person located on the other side of the border, an avenue away and standing approximately 10 meters above the street ground atop a hill.  Furthermore, I cannot understand how throwing rocks has come to be a commonly reported border occurrence and that it excuses the killing of people.  Shooting someone should be a last resort or when an agent is in imminent danger.  Those who violate this more-than-common-sense moral should be heavily penalized.