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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | February 2008 
Mexico Requests U.S. Investigate Border Patrol Tear Gas Incidents
 Associated Press
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Mexico City - Mexico has formally requested the United States investigate recent incidents in which Border Patrol officers fired tear gas onto the Mexican side of the border, the government said Thursday.
After being upbraided by the country's top human rights agency for failing to press Washington enough on the issue, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department issued a statement calling the tactic "unacceptable."
The Border Patrol says the tactic is necessary to protect its officers from increasing attacks by people hurling rocks and other objects at them from Mexico.
"Independently of whether these incidents are a response to hostile acts against Border Patrol agents by private citizens on the Mexican side, the Mexican government considers these actions by U.S. federal authorities to be unacceptable," Foreign Relations said in a statement.
The department said it sent a letter to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City on Jan. 15 requesting "a thorough investigation." It added that a Mexican boy was injured in one of the incidents, but did not give details.
The Border Patrol reported 987 attacks — many with rocks — on its agents during the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, the most since it began keeping track in the late 1990s.
U.S. officials say they have talked to Mexican authorities about the issue. The Border Patrol recently equipped agents in California and Arizona with a pepper-spray launcher that has a range of more than 200 feet, and says they are only used defensively.
On Wednesday, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission urged the government to do more to stop the incidents and take "urgent and decisive action." |
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