Border Patrol shootings have killed at least 78 people since January 2010, part of 367 total deaths in encounters with Customs and Border Protection personnel through mid-2026, according to the ACLU of Texas.1ACLU of Texas. CBP Fatal Encounters Tracker In the agency’s nearly 100-year history, no on-duty Border Patrol agent has ever been successfully convicted of killing someone on the job.2Southern Border Communities Coalition. Deaths by Border Patrol That record is the starting point for understanding how shootings by Border Patrol are investigated, prosecuted, and almost never punished.
When Agents Are Allowed to Shoot
The governing rule is DHS Policy Statement 044-05, last revised on February 6, 2023. It authorizes deadly force only when an officer has a “reasonable belief” that a subject poses an “imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury.”3Just Security. DHS DOJ CBP Policy Force Vehicles Deadly force is prohibited solely to prevent escape. Warning shots are generally banned, and so is firing at moving vehicles unless the standard deadly-force threshold is independently met.4DHS. Department Policy on the Use of Force
The policy also requires de-escalation training, directs agents to avoid putting themselves in positions where deadly force becomes the only option, and imposes a duty to intervene when an officer witnesses excessive force. An agent who fails to intervene or report faces discipline.4DHS. Department Policy on the Use of Force A supplemental 2014 CBP directive tells agents not to stand in the path of a moving vehicle or use their bodies to block one.3Just Security. DHS DOJ CBP Policy Force Vehicles
Those rules exist on paper. A 2013 independent review by the Police Executive Research Forum concluded that Border Patrol use of force was “often excessive and arbitrary” and that agents sometimes “deliberately provoked confrontations that led to avoidable violence,” including stepping in front of moving vehicles or lingering within range of rock throwers to justify shooting back.5ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties. Radio Silence on Border Patrol Use of Force Policies Leads to Lawsuit CBP initially tried to keep the report secret, and internal leadership rejected several of its recommendations.6American Immigration Council. Customs and Border Protection Conceals Scathing Audit of Border Patrols Use of Force Policy
Why Families Usually Cannot Sue
The clearest legal barrier to accountability came out of a cross-border killing. On June 7, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Jesus Mesa Jr. shot and killed 15-year-old Sergio Adrián Hernández Güereca while the teenager stood on the Mexican side of the border near El Paso.7ACLU of New Mexico. Dead and Injured by CBP Officials The Justice Department concluded Mesa had not violated policy or training, declined to prosecute, and closed its investigation on April 27, 2012. Mexico asked for Mesa’s extradition. The United States refused.8U.S. Supreme Court. Hernandez v. Mesa, 589 U.S. (2020)
Hernández’s family sued Mesa for damages, and the case reached the Supreme Court. On February 25, 2020, the Court ruled 5–4 that families cannot sue federal agents for damages in cross-border shootings. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito held that a cross-border shooting presents a “new context” for constitutional damages claims and that foreign relations and border security are matters for Congress and the executive, not the courts.9Oyez. Hernandez v. Mesa Congress, the Court noted, has repeatedly declined to authorize damages for injuries inflicted by federal officers outside U.S. borders.8U.S. Supreme Court. Hernandez v. Mesa, 589 U.S. (2020)
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dissenting, argued that a “rogue” federal officer’s conduct was exactly the situation the constitutional damages remedy was designed to address. Justice Clarence Thomas, concurring, said the remedy should be eliminated entirely.9Oyez. Hernandez v. Mesa The ruling’s practical effect reached beyond the Hernández family. In August 2018, the Ninth Circuit had allowed a parallel suit by the mother of José Antonio Elena Rodriguez, a 16-year-old killed in Nogales, to proceed, holding that the teenager had a Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable deadly force and that the agent who shot him was not entitled to qualified immunity.10U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Rodriguez v. Swartz, No. 15-16410 After Hernandez v. Mesa, the Supreme Court vacated that decision and sent it back for reconsideration.11SCOTUSblog. Swartz v. Rodriguez
The Criminal Track Record
Civil lawsuits are one path. Criminal prosecution is the other, and it is just as rare. The Elena Rodriguez case produced one of the few indictments. On October 10, 2012, Border Patrol Agent Lonnie Swartz fired through the border fence in Nogales 16 times in 34 seconds, striking the teenager eight times in the back and twice in the head. A federal jury acquitted Swartz of second-degree murder in April 2018 and deadlocked on lesser manslaughter counts. He was retried, and on November 21, 2018, a jury found him not guilty of involuntary manslaughter. The government declined to try him a third time.12Tucson.com. Jury Acquits Border Patrol Agent Lonnie Swartz of Involuntary Manslaughter
Internal discipline has been equally thin. CBP’s own review flagged 14 specific use-of-force cases for potential discipline between 2010 and 2012. Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske ultimately took no disciplinary action in any of them.13Southern Border Communities Coalition. Promise of Reforms by CBP Commissioner Ring Hollow
Who Investigates a Border Patrol Shooting
Until 2022, individual Border Patrol sectors ran their own “Critical Incident Teams,” investigating shootings and deaths by their own personnel. Those teams responded to nearly 900 critical incidents between fiscal years 2010 and 2022. Civil rights groups called the setup self-investigation.14GAO. Investigations of Border Encounters That End in Serious Injury or Death
In 2022, CBP disbanded the sector teams and gave sole responsibility to its Office of Professional Responsibility, which then nearly doubled its investigator workforce. A May 2024 Government Accountability Office report found that more than half of OPR’s new hires were former Border Patrol agents, creating what the GAO called “increased risks for impairments to independence.” At the time of the review, OPR had no formal guidance or training to help investigators identify conflicts of interest. By mid-2024, OPR had updated its manual to define categories of impairment and created a training program called “Objectivity and Independence.” The GAO closed those recommendations as implemented. Separate recommendations about non-critical incidents remained open as of mid-2025.15GAO. GAO-24-106148
The Body Camera Gap
CBP launched a body-worn camera pilot under a directive signed in August 2021. By late 2022, roughly 4,000 agents at 29 sites had been trained and equipped, and CBP set a goal of equipping all frontline Border Patrol agents by the end of 2023. Initial costs were estimated at about $35.8 million for roughly 8,600 personnel, with equipment supplied by Axon Enterprises.16DHS. CBP Incident-Driven Video Recording Systems Under the directive, officers activate cameras at their own discretion during enforcement encounters. CBP has posted body-camera releases from 2024 and 2025 incidents, confirming the cameras are in field use.17CBP. Body Worn Camera Video Releases
Deployment, however, remains uneven. In January 2026, six Border Patrol agents involved in a Portland shooting were not wearing cameras, and no footage of the encounter was captured.
The 2025–2026 Shootings That Reopened the Debate
A string of incidents in 2025 and 2026 pushed Border Patrol shootings back into national attention, and did so largely away from the border itself.
Minneapolis
In late 2025, federal immigration agencies launched “Operation Metro Surge” in the Minneapolis area, which DHS described as its largest-ever domestic operation. Three federal shootings followed in January 2026, none along the border.
On January 7, 2026, ICE Agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot 37-year-old Renée Nicole Macklin Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, during what began as a vehicle stop. According to a congressional oversight report, Good had stopped her car after dropping her child at school. Video showed a masked officer trying to force open her door. As she angled her vehicle away, Ross fired through the windshield and the open driver-side window. An autopsy found she was shot in the side of the head. The Trump administration said Good had tried to run over the officer and called her a “domestic terrorist.” Bystander video showed a visible gap between the officer and the vehicle, and the officer walking away unassisted. A physician witness was reportedly prevented from administering CPR; emergency responders found Good still had a pulse when they arrived six minutes later.18House Oversight Committee Democrats. Minnesota Oversight Report
On January 24, 2026, Border Patrol Agent Jesus Ochoa and CBP Officer Raymundo Gutierrez shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital, while clearing protesters from a Minneapolis roadway. According to a notice provided to Congress, Pretti resisted arrest after refusing to move. Agents used pepper spray, pulled him to the ground, and fired roughly 10 shots after one agent shouted that Pretti had a gun. Pretti was carrying a legally owned handgun.19ProPublica. Alex Pretti Shooting: CBP Agents Identified DHS Secretary Kristi Noem labeled him a “domestic terrorist” within hours.20Minnesota Reformer. FBI Wont Provide Minnesota Investigators With Evidence in Alex Pretti Killing
The DOJ Civil Rights Division opened investigations, but the FBI formally refused to share evidence with Minnesota state investigators. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was blocked by DHS personnel from accessing the Pretti scene despite having a judicial warrant.20Minnesota Reformer. FBI Wont Provide Minnesota Investigators With Evidence in Alex Pretti Killing State Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty began independent evidence collection.21Al Jazeera. FBI Takes Over Investigation Into ICE Agent Killing of Woman in Minneapolis The Border Patrol commander who oversaw the Minneapolis sweeps, Gregory Bovino, was removed and reassigned.19ProPublica. Alex Pretti Shooting: CBP Agents Identified
Portland
On January 8, 2026, six Border Patrol agents in four unmarked vehicles conducted a traffic stop in a medical clinic parking lot in East Portland. Federal authorities alleged that the driver, Luis David Niño-Moncada, reversed his truck into an unmarked vehicle, and an agent fired through the driver’s side. Niño-Moncada and his passenger, Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, both Venezuelan nationals, were shot.22OPB. What We Know So Far About Border Patrol Shooting in Portland DHS initially said both were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. At a January 21 detention hearing, the U.S. Attorney stated: “We’re not suggesting [Niño-Moncada] is a gang member.” None of the six agents wore body cameras, and investigators obtained only distant surveillance footage that does not clearly capture the shooting.23The Guardian. Portland Venezuelans Shot by Border Patrol in Court Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield opened a separate investigation into whether federal agents acted outside their lawful authority.24KLCC. Federal Agents Shoot 2 People in East Portland
Legislation and Reform Pressure
Civil rights organizations, led by the ACLU and the Southern Border Communities Coalition, have pressed for structural reforms for more than a decade. Their core demands include a permanent independent congressional oversight commission for CBP, more transparency around shooting investigations, an end to rock-throwing as a justification for lethal force, and mandatory de-escalation training.25ACLU. Cause for Alarm: ACLU Tells UN Panel of Rampant Abuse by Out-of-Control Border Patrol The ACLU has also raised the issue before the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Legislation has targeted the accountability gap but has not passed. In 2018, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand introduced the DHS Accountability and Transparency Act, which would have required CBP and ICE to collect and publicly report data on every patrol stop, search, and use of force, including officer badge numbers.26Office of Senator Gillibrand. Gillibrand Announces Legislation to Increase Transparency and Accountability for Border Patrol and ICE Agents In the 119th Congress, Senator Jeff Merkley introduced S.3745, the ICE and CBP Constitutional Accountability Act. It would amend the Federal Tort Claims Act to let individuals sue the U.S. government for constitutional violations by CBP and ICE officers, including for punitive damages, and would explicitly waive sovereign immunity for such claims.27Office of Senator Merkley. ICE and CBP Constitutional Accountability Act It was referred to committee.
The combined effect of Hernandez v. Mesa, the persistent zero-conviction record for on-duty agents, and the federal government’s refusal to share evidence with state investigators in the Minneapolis cases has intensified calls for Congress to act. As of mid-2026, how to hold Border Patrol agents accountable for deadly force remains an open question.