Hernandez v. Mesa

The ACLU has a longstanding interest in enforcing constitutional and statutory constraints on the federal government’s immigration enforcement activities at the border. Here, the ACLU represents Araceli Rodriguez in her claims against U.S. Border Patrol Agent Lonnie Swartz for the cross-border shooting of her teenage son, J.A., a Mexican national who was in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico at the time of the shooting. Our amicus brief addresses the importance of Bivens remedies as a vital check on unconstitutional acts by federal agents and argues that the extraterritorial nature of the murder does not warrant the denial of a Bivens remedy to the Rodriguez family.