Hernandez v. United States
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
785 F.3d 117 (2015)
Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa, standing on U.S. soil, shot and killed 15-year-old Sergio while Sergio was playing in a cement culvert on the Mexican side of the border. Sergio's father, Jesus Hernandez (plaintiff), sued Mesa and others (defendants) in federal court, alleging violations of Sergio's Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizure and Fifth Amendment due process right; Mesa claimed qualified immunity on the Fifth Amendment claim, and the district court agreed, dismissing the suit because Sergio and his family had no substantial connection to the United States and thus no clearly established constitutional rights to assert.
Whether a foreign citizen with no significant voluntary connection to the United States, who is on foreign soil at the time of the incident, can assert Fourth and Fifth Amendment claims against a U.S. government official.