SCOTUS to Decide if Family Can Sue Border Agent Who Killed Teen

By Shani Saxon May 28, 2019

The United States Supreme Court will soon decide if the family of a Mexican teen migrant who was shot and killed by a border agent will be allowed to sue for damages, CBS News reports. 

The main question the plaintiffs hope will be answered in Hernández v. Mesa is if the shooting death of the teen is considered a “violation of the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures,” according to CBS. The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is meant to protect against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. The Court will also examine the case to determine if his Fifth Amendment rights were violated, which says that no one should be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

CBS reports that Sergio Adrián Hernández Güereca was 15 years old when he stood on the Mexico side of the border between El Paso in Texas and Ciudad Juarez back in 2010. Agent Jesus Mesa was across from Hernández on the U.S. side when he shot and killed the boy. The agent said people were throwing rocks at him when he fired his gun, shooting Hernández twice. The boy died immediately, according to El Paso Times.

The Supreme Court previously heard arguments in this case in 2017, according to CBS. However, the case was returned to lower courts for more hearings.