Shots fired by U.S. border agents at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry left a 59-year-old U.S. citizen hospitalized after authorities say he tried to evade inspection there Monday night.
San Diego police said Tuesday that the man is awaiting charges while they investigate the use of force by the federal officers. Police did not release the man’s identity, but said he is a citizen and a resident of Los Angeles.
The incident began at about 9 p.m. when the man drove away from inspection, police said, and ultimately toward a group of officers at the port who opened fire in response.
The man was not injured by the shots, but had cuts to his face from broken glass from the gunfire, police said. He surrendered and was taken to a local hospital.
While the border ports are typically peaceful, Monday night’s shooting was not the only violent incident in recent years.
In September 2024, a CBP officer at the Otay Mesa port of entry shot and injured a man who was walking in a restricted area. The officer said the man was wielding a screwdriver. In December 2021, a CBP officer at the nearby San Ysidro port of entry shot at the windshield of a sedan that was approaching the gate at high speed, carrying Russian asylum seekers. In June 2019, CBP officers shot and killed a U.S. citizen at the San Ysidro port, after he shot at the officers in the secondary inspection area.
San Diego police said the department’s homicide unit was investigating Monday’s incident.
“When homicide completes its investigation, it will be reviewed by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office to determine if the officers bear any criminal liability for their actions,” the SDPD said in a statement.
The three officers at the border port, who had not been identified as of Tuesday, have 22, six and two years of service experience, the department said.
Customs and Border Protection officers rarely face prosecution or discipline in shooting cases. According to the Southern Border Communities Coalition, no CBP or Border Patrol officer in history has been convicted of an on-duty homicide, despite agents killing 343 people since 2010.
Of the 1,068 use-of-force cases CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility considered in 2023, 32 were determined to involve conduct outside the agency’s policies, but the agency did not provide data on any disciplinary measures.
In 2024, a former CBP officer in El Paso, Texas, was convicted of excessive use of force during two violent incidents at a port of entry in 2019 and 2020 and received a 10-year prison sentence for each, while in 2022, a CBP officer was sentenced to one year for using excessive force during an incident at the Calexico port of entry in 2019.
A Supreme Court ruling in 2022 expanded immunity for federal agents, making it more difficult for private citizens to sue officers in civil court for excessive use of force.
Customs and Border Protection is the largest federal law enforcement agency, which includes the Border Patrol as well as CBP agents, who control official ports of entry.
Lillian Perlmutter covers immigration for Times of San Diego and NEWSWELL.
