By Talia Kruger and Nicole Mayer
NEW YORK, NY – The ACLU released statements this week attacking U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) after a video depicting officers shooting projectiles at migrants surfaced.
The video shows Honduran and Venezuelan migrants holding a large Venezuelan flag and fleeing into a river as a hoard of CBP officers approach holding firearms. The video then shows what appears to be two officers aiming weapons at the migrants and opening fire, followed by screams from the migrants in the water.
This interaction took place along the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas, charged the ACLU, condemning the actions of the officers. 
The director of border strategies at the ACLU, Jonathan Blazer, spoke out against the assault, stating, “This footage is highly alarming. People seeking asylum on U.S. soil should be screened for protection, not pushed back, especially through use of force.”
Blazer connected the incident to previous violent assaults by border agents on migrants, maintaining, “This incident is just the latest in a long line of rights violations and abuses carried out by CBP, including the inhumane treatment of Haitian migrants in Del Rio, Texas a year ago, where agents also drove migrants back into Mexico instead of allowing them to seek protection as required by U.S. law.”
“The agents and leadership responsible must be investigated and held accountable. CBP’s policies should also be reexamined to ensure that use of force is not an option in these situations,” added Blazer.
Blazer agreed it is necessary the Biden administration “must end its failed attempts to scare people out of crossing into the U.S. through tactics that have led to unnecessary death and suffering, and restore a humane process for seeking asylum.”
