Annunciation House Newsletter

in places like El Paso, where the harsh realities associated with grinding poverty and immigration are a lived experience for most, and where the ubiquitous presence of the Border Patrol figures prominently in daily life, it is of the utmost importance that matters pertaining to both are treated with meticulous care.

It is nevertheless clear that, in Juan Patricio Peraza’s case, this did not occur.

The trial evidence presented to the court was shaped to a significant degree by the numerous actions and violations of fundamental Border Patrol policy and investigative procedures that transpired before and after the shooting—such as staking out a homeless shelter, failing to ascertain basic information before applying deadly force, the removal of witnesses from the scene before they could be questioned by the El Paso Police Department (EPPD), and the failure to gather information at the crime scene.

Ruling in full - PDF
Judge RICHARD P. MESA’S legal decision in the case of
CESAR PERAZA BARRAZA and,
RAMONA IRENE QUIJADA-SOTO,
Statutory Death Beneficiaries of
JUAN PATRICIO PERAZA, Deceased,
Plaintiffs,

v.s.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Defendant

statement from Annunciation House
When law enforcement officers — the very individuals entrusted to uphold peace and safety — shoot and kill members of the community, a rigorous investigation into the origins of such an incident must be conducted.
The case of Juan Patricio Peraza is no exception.
Posted on August 2, 2008
U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard P. Mesa [...]

Annunciation House will present its 2008 VOICE OF THE VOICELESS AWARD to Roy Bourgeois on May 17TH
Awarded the Purple Heart as an officer in the U.S. Navy, Roy Bourgeois was ordained a Maryknoll priest in 1972. Sent to Bolivia to work with the poor, he was arrested by security forces and forced to leave Bolivia. [...]

The civil trial against the United States filed on behalf of the parents of Juan Patricio started on Monday. The trial is a wrongful death trial that claims that as a result of negligence by Border Patrol, Juan Patricio was shot and killed on the morning of February 22, 2003.

Illegal immigrant’s parents are suing the U.S. government over showdown with agent that left the 19-year-old dead
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press
EL PASO A 19-year-old illegal immigrant shot to death by a U.S. Border Patrol agent four years ago was nothing more than a scared kid, a lawyer for the family suing the government told a [...]

In the cross-examination Enrique Moreno again went over the list of things that VB didn’t know, and didn’t find out, when he arrived on the scene. He didn’t know the number of officers, their position, who was in charge, whether progress had been made, whether the subject had a means of escape…the list went on. And all of those things were important, weren’t they?

VB agreed that they were.

According to his training, a Border Patrol agent was required to assess these things before resorting to deadly force, was he not?

He was

April 10, 2008. Today, Thursday, was the fourth day of the trial. The prosecution began by calling Irene Quijada to the stand. Before today I had known Juan Patricio through a single photograph (taken at Annunciation House shortly before his death) and through generalities—that he was nice, cheerful, so very young when he died. I [...]

April 8, 2008. The prosecution called Agent VB to the stand.
He walked up from his seat at the defense table, a few feet away from where the parents of Juan Patricio were sitting. I don’t think Cesar and Irene had realized before —I’m not sure I had realized—that this man, who had been sitting so [...]

April 7, 2008, a little after nine o’clock in the morning. Five men stood before the judge with their right hands raised. They wore suits in varying shades of gray with creases running down the backs of their trouser legs. Their haircuts and posture pegged them as military men, or police officers. They stated their [...]