U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is investigating an incident from late November that shows a patrol SUV violently ramming a person trying to cross into the U.S. from Mexico.
The video, uploaded on Nov. 27, shows a group of people trying to climb a ladder to get to the other side of the border fence dividing Tijuana and San Ysidro, in California.
A person recording from the Mexican side of the border comments the scenes. After the group manages to go through the first of two walls separating the U.S. from Mexico, a siren can be heard approaching.
While the men run, the patrol car slams into a member of the group, who quickly gets up and runs back to Mexican territory along with others. "What is that man made of?" the person recording says, considering the magnitude of the impact. The patrol car then returns and focuses on those still trying to cross the second border wall, which is 30-feet tall, with a ladder. One of them manages to do it and runs away. The images then end.
#ÚltimaHora ¡Cacería de migrantes!
— “Grillotzin” (@hiramrodriguez1) November 27, 2024
Esto acaba de pasar hace unos minutos en #Tijuana, migrantes se brincan el Muro y la Border Patrol atropella a uno#NiALosPerrosLosTratanAsí@latinus_us @CNNEE @Telemundo @Televisa @Milenio @GobiernoMX pic.twitter.com/q9S2KUjfep
A CBP spokesperson told The Mercury News that authorities arrested two other people after the incident, but that the entire episode is being investigated. "Upon arrival at the incident location, an agent driving a Border Patrol vehicle collided with an individual who then absconded into Mexico," the entity said in a statement.
"The incident is being reviewed by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility and the United States Attorney's Office. The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General and the Mexican Consulate were notified."
Pedro Ríos, an advocate for migrants' rights and director of the American Friends Service Committee's U.S./Mexico Border Program, said he reported the incident after seeing the video. "What we're able to see in that small clip is an egregious action that could have needlessly ended someone's life," he told the outlet.
"Whatever Border Patrol agent is driving that vehicle, there's no intention of stopping, drives straight forward to where there are two individuals purposefully striking one of them."
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