Mexico formally requests US investigate border tear gas incidents

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The government has sent a diplomatic note to the United States formally requesting it investigate recent incidents in which US Border Patrol officers fired tear gas onto the Mexican side of the border. A day after it was upbraided by the country's top human rights agency for failing to press Washington enough on the issue, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department issued a statement on Thursday calling the tactic "unacceptable." The Border Patrol says the tactic is necessary to protect its officers from increasing attacks by people hurling rocks and other objects at them from Mexico. "Independently of whether these incidents are a response to hostile acts against Border Patrol agents by private citizens on the Mexican side, the Mexican government considers these actions by US federal authorities to be unacceptable," Foreign Relations said in a statement.