Border officers involved in fewer shootings
Gun-related incidents are down, says a report, though some doubt its accuracy.
HOUSTON — Border Patrol agents and customs officers have used force less frequently this year as they face fewer assaults, with just seven uses of firearms in the first five months of the fiscal year, according to figures released Thursday.
But the official tally omitted at least one fatal shooting in El Paso, calling into question its accuracy and highlighting the need for more detailed reporting, civil rights advocates said.
“It speaks to a lack of confidence in the statistics themselves. I don’t think there are that many firearm incidents that you can’t have a tabulation of what happened,” said Chris Rickerd, policy counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, adding that until more detailed numbers are released, “it’s very hard to have faith in these statistics.”
He said critics have long demanded more transparency and accountability from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “For the largest law enforcement agency in the country, these are vital things.”
The agency reported 28 uses of force involving firearms last fiscal year, 29 the year before.
For the first time on Thursday, the agency broke down use-of-force figures by geographic sector for the Border Patrol, although two other agencies within CBP responsible for three gun incidents and 18 less-lethal incidents — the Office of Field Operations, and Air and Marine Operations — were not included in the breakdown.
The breakdown of the other four incidents showed that the Border Patrol’s use of firearms during the first five months of the fiscal year starting in October was spread among the Rio Grande Valley, San Diego and Tucson sectors.
On Feb. 4, three Border Patrol agents on patrol in downtown El Paso heard gunshots, found someone fatally wounded on the ground, and pursued a man running from the scene, according to a Border Patrol statement. When the man pointed a gun at a passing driver, then at one of the agents, an agent opened fire and shot the man, who later died.
Because one agent fired during the incident, that should result in one use-offorce report. But no uses of force involving firearms were reported for El Paso sector in fiscal year 2016.
After The Times contacted the agency, spokesman Carlos Diaz said an error in merging databases had resulted in the omission. He said the total would be updated Thursday to eight firearm uses of force.
In the San Diego sector, a Border Patrol agent fired Nov. 15 at a suspected human smuggler caught with a group of 14 immigrants who had hurled a softball-size rock at the agent and fled near Jacumba, Calif., according to a statement released at the time.
In the Tucson sector, a suspect who assaulted a Border Patrol agent and f led from a truck carrying more than a ton of marijuana was shot and wounded by the agent Jan. 25 near the Arizona-New Mexico border, according to an agency statement. The agent suffered minor injuries.
In the Rio Grande Valley sector, two agents on patrol near the Rio Grande spotted four men attempting to cross on a raft from Mexico, heard gunshots, and one of the agents returned fire in Fronton, Texas, on Jan. 11. No injuries were reported, an agency statement said.
The new data show a decline in the use of what Border Patrol calls “less lethal” weapons such as pepperball guns and Tasers. There were 185 such incidents during the first five months of the year compared with 756 in all of last fiscal year, 1,008 the year before.
The reason for the overall decrease in use of force was unclear, although agents face an ongoing surge in families and children crossing the border illegally and are seeing fewer assaults.
Assaults on border officers and agents decreased so far this year for the first time in years, down to 176 compared with 390 all of last year and 373 the year before.
The numbers were released ahead of the busy summer season, when illegal migration usually increases.
It was not clear from the government figures how many of the uses of force resulted in deaths.