Daily MailA Texas homeowner has been arrested for firing his gun in an apparent attempt to scare of illegal immigrants when he saw them running through his property after crossing the border.
Enrique Fernandez, 56, was arrested in Brownsville, Texas, after agents who were patrolling the border heard the shots and called the local sheriff’s department.
The house sits yards away from the Rio Grande. Next to his house there is a large field.
Fernandez claimed that border patrol agents chased the migrants onto his property and that he was merely trying to scare them away.
He fired three shots and no one was injured.
When border patrol agents heard the shots, they called the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department who went to his home.
Fernandez insisted that he did not fire directly at them.
Because he is a convicted felon who is banned from owning guns, he was arrested for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
He had initially been charged with discharging a firearm in certain municipality, a class A misdemeanor, but that was dropped when he was transferred into federal custody.
In the 1990s, he was charged with possession of a controlled substance and he received a 23-year sentence, according to local newspaper The Monitor.
Fernandez will return to court next week.
His home is not far from McAllen, Texas, where troops have been setting up in anticipation of a migrant caravan of thousands of Hondurans who are making their way through the US.
Over the last few weeks, as the caravan has continued to make progress, President Trump has intensified his rhetoric on the subject.
He last week suggested that troops would respond to any of them who throw rocks at them with their rifles, appearing to give them permission to shoot member of the 7,000-strong group.
Trump dialed it back afterwards but has said he will end ‘catch and release’ by detaining anyone who crosses the border illegally and keeping them in custody to face repercussions.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6358591/Texas-man-arrested-firing-gun-scare-illegal-immigrants.html
