Legal black holes at the U.S.-Mexico border: an evaluation of cross-border harms and the shortcomings of international and domestic law in providing remedies

• Author: Victoria Ochoa
• Position: JD/MPP candidate at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Harvard Kennedy School
• Pages: 325-348

NOTES

LEGAL BLACK HOLES AT THE U.S.-MEXICO

BORDER: AN EVALUATION OF CROSS-BORDER

HARMS AND THE SHORTCOMINGS OF

INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC LAW IN

PROVIDING REMEDIES

VICTORIA OCHOA*

ABSTRACT

At the U.S.-Mexico border, globalization and border militarization have

increased the number of cross-border harms, harms originating in one coun-

try and impacting individuals in another. Despite these rising collisions,

domestic and international legal remedies have failed to resolve these harms.

International law privileges state actors and grants states tremendous lati-

tude to decide domestic matters. When adjudicating cross-border harms at

the U.S.-Mexico border, international tribunals merely recommend policy

changes or highlight wrongdoing. Domestically, individuals within border

zones are heavily policed by federal law enforcement, but like others in the

country’s interior, they have few viable remedies to hold these officers ac-

countable for constitutional violations. Non-citizens who increasingly face

harm at the hands of federal actors abroad have virtually none. This Note

evaluates the legal black holes that exist at the U.S.-Mexico border, evaluat-

ing cross-border harms and the shortcomings of international and domestic

remedies in resolving them. With a particular focus on border patrol cross-

border shootings, one of the most visible forms of cross-border harms, this

Note evaluates civil and criminal remedies Congress could enact to eliminate

some of the legal black holes that make accountability elusive on the U.S.-

Mexico border.

* Victoria Ochoa is a JD/MPP candidate at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Harvard

Kennedy School. She is from the Rio Grande Valley. © 2021, Victoria Ochoa.

325

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

II. CROSS-BORDER HARMS ON THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER . . . . . . . . . . 328

A. Cross-Border Harms in the Age of Border Militarization

and Mass Migration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

1. Visible Cross-Border Harm: Cross-Border Deaths and

Shootings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

2. Visible Cross-Border Harm: Border Wall Construction 331

3. Invisible Cross-Border Harms: Constitutional

Protections Contingent on Territorial Presence . . . . . . 332

4. Invisible Cross-Border Harm: Virtual Legal Barricades 333

III. A LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND VIABLE REMEDIES IN BORDER

ZONES .......................................... 334

A. Shortcomings of Domestic Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

B. Shortcomings of International Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

1. International Tribunal Deliberations on Border Walls

and U.S. Immigration Policy ................... 336

2. The Limited Role of Customary Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

3. Applying Pressure on Domestic Policy from Abroad. . 339

IV. PROPOSING NEW CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION TO REMEDY CROSS-

BORDER HARM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

A. Proposing a Criminal Remedy to Cross-Border Harm. . . . 341

1. Advantages of a Criminal Remedy to Cross-Border

Shooting ................................. 342

2. Disadvantages of a Criminal Remedy for Cross-Border

Shootings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

B. Proposing a Civil Remedy to Cross-Border Harm. . . . . . . 344

1. Advantages of a Civil Remedy to Cross-Border Harm . 345

2. Disadvantages of a Civil Remedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

C. Impact of Remedies on International Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

V. CONCLUSION ...................................... 347

326 GEORGETOWN IMMIGRATION LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 36:325