Scuffle Between Mexican Customs Agent and US Citizen

NOGALES, SONORA, MEXICO – An incident at the border led to a scuffle between a US citizen and a Mexican Customs agent on the Mexican side of the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry.

The Customs Agent was unable to work for two days due to the punches she received and the civilian was detained overnight in a local jail.

The confrontation began on Wednesday night, when an unidentified woman, a US citizen, traveling from the United States entered Mexico by walking through the Dennis DeConcini pedestrian-processing lanes at the border station. She bypassed the mandatory stoplight designed to assign random inspections.

Immediately realizing this, a female customs agent ran after the woman to stop her, the woman was uncooperative and got into a verbal altercation with the customs agent, followed by a scuffle.

Juan Gim, director of Puerto Nogales, highlighted that the woman did not follow the process of placing her shopping bags on the inspection band, which must be done by all pedestrians who enter Mexico with any type of merchandise.

The director stresses that the actions were not justified, independently of who threw the first punch. He stated that all agents receive training to handle these types of situations, but unfortunately, the agent did not handle the situation well.

The videos circulating on social media show that the woman kept on walking and was followed by the SAT female agent. They argued and then scuffled by slapping and pushing each other. Videos also show that moments later police show up to try to stop the fight, but they were also assaulted by the woman and her husband.

The director of Puerto Nogales clarified that the civilian and her husband were detained for assaulting local Police and not for the scuffle with the customs agent.

He announced that the case will be investigated legally to determine the administrative and judicial consequences that the authorities consider applicable.