Mesa was attempting to arrest people who had illegally crossed over into Texas, when he says he was hit by rocks hurled at him from over the Mexican border. The agent fired his weapon across the Rio Grande and shot the teenager twice.
The family of the teen attempted to sue the officer, but in a unanimous ruling, the full 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decided that a Fourth Amendment claim cannot be asserted by a Mexican citizen who was shot in Mexico, without “significant connection” to the United States, despite the shooter having fired from Texas.
This was the third time the family attempted to file the suit. The first time the judge ruled that they could not sue in the United States as the effects of the killing were felt in Mexico. Later, a three-judge panel of the 5th circuit decided that Mesa could in fact be sued, but this latest decision upheld the original ruling.
Reilly said the family has not decided whether they will appeal the ruling, but in a statement they expressed they would leave it up to others to decide if the court had lost its moral bearings.
"On behalf of the parents of an innocent slain teenager — a human being, regardless of his nationality — we simply note that they and we had not expected such a decision from a court of the United States," Reilly wrote.
