The U.S. Border Patrol will continue to kill people who throw rocks, in defiance of a government-ordered review that urged a stop to this practice, the agency's head told the Associated Press in an exclusive interview released Tuesday.
Border Patrol Chief Mike Fisher flatly rejected recommendations by the non-profit Police Executive Research Forum that the Border Patrol and its umbrella agency Customs and Border Protection halt the practice of responding to rock throwers and perceived assailants in vehicles by using deadly force.
The recommendations are "very restrictive," charged Fisher. "We shouldn't have carve-outs in our policy and say, except for this, except for that," he stated. "Just to say that you shouldn't shoot at rock-throwers or vehicles for us, in our environment, was very problematic and could potentially put Border Patrol agents in danger."
The recommendations were part of a government-commissioned review of Customs and Border Protection that began last year after congressional representatives became concerned over the killing of at least 20 people by CBP since 2010. This includes Anastasio Hernandez, who was unarmed when he was killed by a taser weapon at San Diego's port of entry.
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