Agent Shot at Immigrants’ Raft, Officials Say

Three undocumented immigrants spilled from a raft into the All American Canal near Calexico and one remained missing Friday after a U.S. Border Patrol agent allegedly opened fire with a personal pellet gun, officials said.

Authorities said the rubber raft apparently flipped when the immigrants shifted positions as it was hit. Two people made it to shore on the Mexican side of the canal. A search was underway for the third.

The agent, who was on duty at the time, was identified only as a two-year veteran of the Border Patrol’s El Centro office. Officials said the FBI and local law enforcement agencies were investigating.

“We take these allegations very seriously. If a Border Patrol agent has acted in any way that was inappropriate, we want to know about it,” said Thomas Wacker, patrol chief in El Centro.

The search began Friday morning after an illegal immigrant who was arrested in Calexico as part of a separate group reported seeing the Border Patrol agent fire a pellet gun from shore as the immigrants tried to cross the waterway on a raft. The canal traces the international border near Calexico, about 120 miles east of San Diego.

Officials said the allegations appeared to be valid, but did not elaborate. Investigators were searching for the pellet gun and the raft. The Border Patrol does not issue pellet guns to its agents.

“If this is true, I’m shocked beyond belief,” said Roberto Martinez, who monitors charges of rights abuses by Border Patrol agents. Martinez said a rapid staffing buildup has put too many agents in the field who are poorly supervised.

The canal, which carries water for crops in the otherwise arid Imperial Valley, has been the site of numerous drownings during the last two years as the region became a heavily traveled corridor for illegal immigrants.

So far this year, nine people have drowned trying to cross the border into Imperial County, according to the county coroner’s office. Last year, there were 51 such drownings.

The Border Patrol launched a safety program, warning potential immigrants and equipping agents with lifelines and other equipment to prevent drownings and death from exposure in the region’s scorching deserts. The Navy is experimenting with noise sensors that could detect people in the canal, which ranges from 20 to 150 feet in width.

“We’re trying to prevent people from drowning in the canals. To even think one of our agents may have been involved is just horrible,” said Bill Strassberger, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Strassberger said immigrants are using small rafts to ford the All American Canal as word spreads of the perils of swimming.

“It’s something people do try. More and more people are becoming aware of the dangers of trying to swim across the canal. It [looks] peaceful, but it’s got an awful undertow,” he said.