Parents’ cross-border shooting case dismissed

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled a Mexican family could not sue the U.S. Border Patrol agent who killed their teenage son. The justices said foreign nationals do not have the same protection under U.S. federal laws. Any damages to the family would require the authorization of Congress or the president.

What happened to the teen? Agent Jesus Mesa Jr. contends that 15-year-old Sergio Hernandez and some friends pelted him with rocks and were trying to cross the border illegally when he fired at them in June 2010 at the boundary between El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico. Hernandez’s parents said the boys were playing a game in which they dared each other to run up and touch the barbed-wire border fence. Mesa fired shots from the U.S. side of the border and struck Hernandez, who died on Mexican soil.

Dig deeper: Read Sophia Lee’s report on the shifts in U.S. border policy under the Trump administration.