Previous

Contents

Next

On Throwing Rocks
by A.X. Perez
[email protected]

Attribute to The Libertarian Enterprise

So it seems that last week a group of young men tried to cross over illegally from Juarez to El Paso at the Black Bridge. A lone Border Patrol Agent stopped them, arrested one and the rest ran back across the river (Trickle actually as the bulk of the Rio Grande's water is diverted through canals just up stream to prevent the river from changing channels and thus relocating the Border.) The escapees then began to pelt the BP guy with rocks. He pulled his issue pistol and shot at his assailants, killing one. The incident was videotaped and the tape played on local media. The Mexican government is angry, Immigrant rights Groups are furious, and everyone is getting their panties in a knot.

I believe in open borders, amnesties and all sorts of good stuff. And I say the deceased had it coming. In the first place years of living on the border have taught me that the kids crossing under the Black Bridge are not coming over to work, attend school, meet girlfriends or other honest business. They come to look for trouble. Maybe it's just a "mischievous lark," maybe it's a recce for alien and drug smugglers, maybe it's to shoplift and commit burglary. Back until the border was sealed in the early Nineties juvenile gangs crossed at the Black Bridge to rob, rape and murder those who crossed informally to look for honest work. Five decades of observation and experience have led me to conclude they are not coming over to live by and celebrate the Zero Aggression Principal.

Secondly, you can in fact kill or at least seriously injure a man throwing rocks. The BP Agent had a choice between retreating and thus letting a suspect he had reason to believe was entering the US for the purpose of committing crimes other than illegal entry go or firing with his sidearm on his assailants. It is appropriate for a law enforcement officer to shoot under those circumstances. I am assuming reasonable marksmanship and just right sized rocks being used by the kids throwing rocks.

Finally, how many kids in Juarez have been murdered in the drug wars tearing up the town to where its murder rate exceeds the casualty rates for the filibusters in Iraq and Afghanistan? Where is the outrage over the drug war in J-Town ten years ago and the deaths it caused? Where is the anger over the systematic robbery, rape and murder of schoolgirls, factory workers and prostitutes that really didn't stop in the mid Nineties?

People have been found not guilty of murder for using a gun to fight off assailants armed with rocks. As much as I dislike our immigration laws I am not about to require that those enforcing them either fail to do their jobs or submit to potentially lethal assault, especially by those who profit by the maxim that when an activity is outlawed it is taken over by criminals. And I am not going to express support for a ruling class like the one in Mexico condemning the US for violating their citizens rights when they piss on those rights, and the people whose rights they are for that matter, on a consistent and regular basis.

Maybe if I hadn't spent so much of my life in the area where this happened I would look at it differently. However, I did and my judgment is shaped by what I observed and still observe. Come live In Downtown El Paso, Sunset Heights, and Segudo Barrio and then you can judge also.

Help Support TLE by patronizing our advertisers and affiliates.
We cheerfully accept donations!