Government To Pay For Death Of Undocumented

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The family of Anastacio Hernández, the undocumented man who died in 2010 at the hands of Border Patrol agents while shouting "I did nothing", was about to receive stibles. As a result, he was deported to Mexico.

A few days later, missing his five children and María Puga, his wife by common law, he decided to cross the border again. However, on this occasion, border patrol agents intercepted him and gave him a severe beating.

People who were close to the scene began to record it with their cell phones while about twelve agents kicked Hernández and repeatedly detonated electric shocks with a taser weapon. As a result, Hernández suffered a heart attack and died within a few days.

Ashley Young, who recorded the scene with her cell phone, told The Washington Post that when she saw that several people were recording them, some officers approached to confiscate their phones, but that she quickly hid the memory of hers in her pants. In this way, she saved valuable evidence that helped Hernández's family present their accusations.

Today, the Hernández case is setting a precedent and Puga and his family are fighting for the United States government to change its immigration policies and for its border agents to use body cameras and better methods to discipline them be implemented.

"We, along with other families, have been fighting for more than five years in search of justice," Puga said in 2016 in a video directed to the Border Patrol that was broadcast on YouTube. "I have spoken with families and I know the great pain they feel, which is the same as mine: that of having lost a loved one and not being able to find justice."

As this case was made public, the United States Department of Justice reported that none of the agents involved in the Hernández case will face criminal or civil charges.