One legal team member, the Associate Director of UC Berekley's International Human Rights Law Clinic, said:

The case of Anastasio is incredibly significant because it pierced the credibility shield of CBP, who for nearly a century has operated with near total impunity. The video in that case was the first to expose the lies told by CBP. The agency asked us to believe them when they told us that the use of force that ended Anastasio’s life was necessary to subdue an out-of-control Anastasio. But the video shows us the truth: it shows us out-of-control agents who are torturing, electrocuting, and beating a man who is hogtied and face down on the ground. This video was the tip of the spear that cracked open CBP, leading to agency-wide investigations, a new use-of-force policy, leadership transitions, and the testing of body-worn cameras.“

It's time to hold these and other border patrol agents accountable for their crimes.

Since 2010, 46 people have been killed by border agents by use-of-force and coercion. Many more have been brutally beaten. While a few agents have faced charges, like Lonnie Swartz who shot and killed 16 year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, no agent has been held accountable since January 2010, even in some of the most egregious cases. These types of numbers further allude to CBP’s corrupt culture of violence and impunity, which represents a systemic failure within the agency; and the disregard for the preservation of human life.