By Debbie Nathan
After Claudia Patricia Gómez González, a 19-year-old
indigenous Guatemalan, was shot to death last week by a Border Patrol
agent near Laredo, Texas, the Border Patrol issued a press release
claiming that the teenager was one of a group of “illegal aliens” who
were “assailants” threatening the agent with “blunt objects.” Two days
later, the government’s story changed. A new press release did not
mention weapons, and it described the young woman not as an “assailant,”
but as a part of a group who “rushed” the officer after ignoring orders
to get on the ground.
As a storm of media coverage ensued, NPR reported
that the Border Patrol’s “use of force involving firearms” had more
than doubled, after dropping more than 70 percent over five years. From
October 2017 to March 2018, agents used guns nine times. During the same
period the previous year, they used guns four times.
Administration officials justified the spike, NPR said, by claiming
that assaults on Border Patrol agents have increased significantly.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Intercept_
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