Claudia Gomez Gonzalez: ACLU claims 100 million dollars on behalf of family of Guatemalan woman killed by Border Patrol

Houston – The lawyers claimed $ 100 million in damages Thursday on behalf of a 20-year-old Guatemalan family who was shot dead by an officer of the US Border Patrol last year. The legal complaint on behalf of Claudia Patricia Gómez González was filed one year after her death.

This comes as the US government grapples with the growing number of Central Americans crossing its southern border and the deaths of six children in the last year after being arrested by border agents.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas filed the complaint under the Federal Tort Tort Act as a precursor to filing a complaint.

Gómez González crossed the US-Mexico border in Texas with several migrants who were confronted by a border patrol officer who opened fire and killed her.

According to the complaint, Gómez González "did not pose a threat to anyone, as would have been obvious at the slightest glance". According to the complaint, she was not armed and did not flee like other members of the migrant group.

He claims $ 50 million each for bodily injury and what is written is the unjustified death of Gómez González.

"His life was as precious as anyone's and his family deserves justice for their loss," said André Segura, the group's legal director. "Our government has the responsibility to treat everyone legally, humanely and with respect, no matter how they came into this country."

Customs and US border protection, the parent agency of the Border Patrol, declined to comment on Thursday. CBP's initial statement of 23 May 2018 regarding the death of Gómez González indicated that the officer had used his weapon after being attacked by "several people using blunt objects". The agency has described Gomez Gonzalez as an assailant.

The agency revised its statement a day later to say that Gómez González was "one of the group members" who had precipitated the agent and ignored orders to go to the field. According to the statement, the officer shot.

The officer, who was not identified, had been on administrative leave at that time. CBP declined Wednesday to comment on the status of the agent or the complaint filed. George Altgelt, an agent's attorney, did not return a phone message.

Gómez González was originally from San Juan Ostuncalco, outside the city of Quetzaltenango, in the western highlands. Some members of her family said she had studied forensic accounting and applied for admission to a state university, but that she had not passed all three exams. admission. Living in poverty and unable to find work, she moved to the United States.

More than 160,000 people from Guatemala were apprehended at the US-Mexico border between October and April. In the wake of Gómez González, a woman said that many villagers had gone to the United States to look for work.

"We are poor, there are no jobs, that's why people leave," said the woman, Guadalupe Carreto.