Apr 24 2012
New Evidence Surfaces in Death of Undocumented San Diego Resident on the Border
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Nearly two years ago, a 42 year old man named Anastacio Hernandez Rojas died after being beaten and tased by Border Patrol agents who were in the process of deporting him to Mexico. Rojas, a husband, and father of five, had lived in San Diego for more than ten years. In justifying his beating, Border Patrol agents claimed he had become violent. The Attorney overseeing his case said that a quantity of methamphetamine was found in his blood at the time of death by the coronor and the case was then dismissed without anyone involved being charged. However, Rojas’ death was ruled a “homicide” by the San Diego medical examiner, and while his death brought some media attention in 2010, it quickly faded away — until now.
As a result of investigative journalism, two videos by witnesses have revealed that Rojas was handcuffed and on the ground when he was repeatedly beaten and tased. A new documentary that aired this past Friday on PBS, and that is available for viewing online, explored Rojas’ death, and the new evidence that has come to light. Meanwhile, Rojas’ family has filed a wrongful death suit against the federal government and 12 agents involved. The online organization, Presente.org is in the process of gathering signatures for a petition aimed at Attorney General Eric Holder demanding a federal investigation.
GUEST: John Carlos Frey, Investigative journalist and documentary film maker, who has been investigating the case of Anastacio Rojas through the Nation
Click here to sign Presente.org’s petition.
Watch the PBS documentary about Anastacio Rojas’ Death here:
Watch Crossing the line at the border on PBS. See more from Need To Know.
2 Responses to “New Evidence Surfaces in Death of Undocumented San Diego Resident on the Border”
Another amazing show. I wanted to thank you again and tell you how I took action. I listened to you in the morning as I always do and in the afternoon I happened to catch David Cruz on 1150AM talking immigration with some jerk from FAIR (the bad one obviously, not Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting). I got on the air and took the opportunity to talk about this case and tell people to go to presente.org and sign their petition calling for immediate investigation by the Justice Department. David Cruz repeated ‘presente.org’ and said he would ‘check it out’ as he let me go. When I got home, I sent Cruz the links to your show, Democracy Now’s coverage, the PBS coverage, AND presente.org. I also told him that I expect this story to be a ‘MAJOR’ part of his show today. We’ll see.
Just doing my part to OCCUPY THE MEDIA!
Thank you for reporting this touching tragic story
It has shed more light on the treatment of immigrants
and their abuse by border patrol
Thank you