Border Patrol Agent Who Sank Raft Carrying People to Resign

A Border Patrol agent who used a pellet gun to sink a raft carrying three illegal immigrants across the All-American Canal has agreed to quit the agency to avoid criminal prosecution, according to an agreement announced Monday.

Gary S. Whitfield, 32, admitted that he fired a pellet pistol at the raft in May and tried to cover it up by throwing the gun into the New River, his attorney and federal officials said.

A witness told authorities that two immigrants swam to safety, but the third did not make it across. However, no body was ever found in the canal, which runs along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Whitfield acknowledges violating Border Patrol policy against shooting at illegals trying to cross the border, but a criminal conviction was unlikely because there was no evidence that anyone was injured, said his attorney, Everett Bobbitt.

“Their chance of conviction, in my opinion, was about zero and they recognize that or they would have prosecuted it,” Bobbitt said.

However, federal officials said they had evidence that Whitfield had bought the gun the day before the shooting and bragged to other agents that he intended to “get a raft” in the canal.

“We had a situation where a Border Patrol agent fired a pellet gun at a raft, but we couldn’t find any victims,” said Amalia Meza, an assistant U.S. attorney.

As part of the agreement, Whitfield, who has been on administrative duty at the Calexico station since the May 14 shooting, must quit the Border Patrol.