Border Shooting; Coyotes Put Kids' Lives On The Line

Unless you live under a rock you have seen the international coverage of the shooting of a 15 year old boy at the Paso Del Norte Bridge in El Paso, Texas.

But just in case you haven't seen the video click on this link.

The video is in spanish so for all you non-spanish speakers just mute the sound.


The 15 year is the victim here. For more than just being shot. It is sad bud kids are used as guides for coyotes(human smugglers). Don't go off the wall just yet. Please let me explain. I looked at the video by myself then I watched it with people who had crossed over illegally so I could better understand what I was seeing. Who better to know what happens when people cross over illegally than someone who had done it themselves.

If you look at the video, the only ones who were caught were a 29 and a 42 year old man. They were the inexperienced ones. You can see the experienced teens run around the agent as the men are caught since the teen guides do it all the time. The teens were escorting the older men, they were not trying to cross themselves. Coyotes hire these young kids because they can't be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The way it works is that nobody gets paid until the "goods" or in this case the people are delivered.

The former undocumented immigrants I saw the video with speculated that the teens were trying to get the agent to release the detainees because if they didn't they would not be delivered to the U.S. side and they (the young guides) would not get paid. It has been reported that the 15 year old had been on a list of known coyotes, but like I said before teens are not coyotes they are guides. That means the coyote is the one who makes the big bucks and he pays these kids chump change to put their life on the line. That is where the injustice begins.


I feel very bad for the family who just lost their teenager. One life lost is one life too many. But we have to take all the relevant factors into consideration. If the Border Patrol Agent is found guilty then he should be held responsible.

I know it is going to be an international fiasco since the Mexican government has already accused the Border Patrol Agent of crossing over into Mexico to shoot the teenager. The video above proves otherwise. It is just shocking to hear the Mexican Government criticize U.S. law enforcement agents when they have such a problem with corruption in their local, state and federal police agencies. (This is just a sidebar and has nothing to do with and does not affect the results of the shooting) Mexican law enforcement agents have been involved in the drug trade, money extortion and on both ends of executions. They are going to use this incident to try to take the attention away from the issues that plague their law enforcement agencies.

The corruption in Mexico is the #1 reason why my family is here in the United States. The corruption in Mexico gave me the opportunity to be born here, serve the country that I love and to make my father proud.

My father is a big influence on me and a very good source of information. He is very passionate about his beliefs but is not as vocal as I am. But there are some things that just make his blood boil. You want see someone blow up when they see Presidente Calderon criticize the U.S., I'll introduce you to my father.

Many people who are born here in the U.S. like to defend alot of things that happen in Mexico without truly understanding what goes on in that country. If you really want to understand how a "Mexican" thinks, talk to one that has gone through the struggle. Talk to one that left their "homeland". They will tell you how they really feel about what goes on in Mexico and why they left.


Thanks Dad for all the talks and for everything you have done for us.

Gracias por las platicas y por todo que has echo por nosotros.