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The
woman, identified by her family as Claudia Gomez, was shot on
Wednesday in south Texas by an officer who opened fire after
several people "rushed him," the Border Patrol said in a
statement on Friday. The agency, alternately describing them as
"illegal aliens" and "a group of suspected illegal aliens," said
Gomez was among them.
The Border Patrol said in an earlier statement that the people
attacked the agent with blunt objects, and that Gomez was among
the assailants.
"To the government of the United States, (I ask) that you do not
treat us like this - like animals - just because you are a
powerful and developed country," Dominga Vicente, Gomez's aunt,
told reporters in Guatemala City.
The young woman from the Guatemalan highlands had left her home
in search of work and education opportunities, Vicente said.
On Thursday, the Guatemala foreign ministry said the rights of
migrants must be respected. "Guatemala laments any act of
violence and excessive use of force by the border patrol," the
foreign ministry said in a statement.
A seven-minute video posted online and viewed thousands of times
appears to show the aftermath of the incident on a residential
street. In the video, a woman calls out in Spanish, "Why did you
shoot the girl? You killed her!"
Trump said last week that he was referring to criminal gangs
when he called some illegal immigrants "animals."
He defended his statement on Wednesday, adding that he was
working on a plan to reduce aid to countries that he said do
nothing to stop MS-13 gang members from crossing into the United
States.
The notorious criminal group has a presence across El Salvador,
Honduras and Guatemala.
(Reporting by Sofia Menchu; Writing by Daina Beth Solomon;
Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)
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