Officials with the National Border Patrol Council are pushing to have U.S. Customs and Border Protection classify the murder of agent Javier Vega, who died Sunday while defending his family from two illegal aliens who tried to rob them at gunpoint, as a line of duty death.
Vega had been fishing with his parents, wife, and children in a fishing spot on the southern side of Willacy County when two illegal aliens tried to rob them at gunpoint setting off a fierce firefight that mortally wounded Vega and injured his father.
The two aliens, originally from Matamoros but living in South Texas, had a lengthy criminal history with one of them having been deported four times prior.
Both men, 40-year-old Ismael Hernandez and 30-year-old Gustavo TIjerina, are currently facing capital murder charges and could get the death penalty if the Willacy County District Attorney’s Office pushes for it. Both men have been tied to a series of armed robberies targeting fishermen in South Texas.
Vegas’ fight to the end in order to protect his family falls right in line with the tradition of the U.S. Border Patrol, and it is something that any American would expect of their agents, said the vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, Shawn Moran.
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