Anastasio Hernandez Rojas Beaten and Tasered to Death by Border Patrol at San Ysidro; CIT Cover-Up Begins Same Day

Opening

On May 28, 2010, Anastasio Hernandez Rojas — a 42-year-old Mexican national, longtime San Diego resident, construction worker, and father of five U.S.-born children — was beaten with batons and tasered at least five times by at least eight CBP agents and officers while handcuffed and prone at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. He suffered cardiac arrest and brain damage, and died on May 31, 2010, after three days on life support. The San Diego County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide. Within hours of the incident, the San Diego sector’s Critical Incident Investigative Team (CIIT) — supervised by then-acting deputy chief patrol agent Rodney Scott — took control of the scene, initiating the evidence-destruction and obstruction sequence that makes this the canonical documented worked example of the CIT cover-up architecture.

What Happened / Key Facts

The incident: Hernandez Rojas had lived in the San Diego area for approximately 25 years and had five U.S.-born children. He was apprehended at San Ysidro while attempting to return to his family after deportation. An altercation occurred during processing. At least eight agents from Border Patrol, CBP, and ICE participated in the physical encounter. He was beaten with batons and tasered at least five times — including in “drive stun” mode, which the IACHR’s April 2025 ruling specifically characterized as torture — while handcuffed and face-down on the ground. The incident occurred in public at one of the world’s busiest border crossings, with hundreds of bystanders on a nearby pedestrian bridge.

Injuries: Cardiac arrest; brain damage; five broken ribs; internal organ hemorrhage; damaged spine; extensive bruising (chest, stomach, hips, knees, back, lips, head, eyelids); several loose teeth.

Medical Examiner ruling: San Diego County Medical Examiner — homicide.

Bystanders and video: Multiple bystanders recorded the beating on cell phones. Ashley Young filmed from an overpass and preserved a memory card when agents demanded phones. Humberto Navarrete, a former National Guard member, also recorded footage. Agents — including CBP supervisor Ramon De Jesus — confiscated phones and deleted video evidence on scene. Government surveillance cameras at the crossing produced footage that was either not preserved or later described as destroyed. The bystander videos surfaced publicly two years later, in April 2012, through PBS journalist John Carlos Frey’s reporting. They showed Hernandez Rojas lying prone, handcuffed, calling for help in Spanish while being tasered — directly contradicting the CBP account that he was “standing, unrestrained, and combative.”

CBP’s initial narrative: CBP officials stated Hernandez Rojas was “standing, unrestrained, and combative” when tasered. Former CBP Deputy Commissioner David Aguilar instructed Internal Affairs to ensure reports reflected this narrative. Former CBP Internal Affairs head James Tomsheck later submitted a sworn affidavit to the IACHR stating Aguilar “wanted me to falsify reports” and that the cover-up “went absolutely to the top of the organization and implicated the entire chain of command.”

CIIT actions on May 28, 2010 and immediately after:

• The Critical Incident Investigative Team arrived at the scene and was present for approximately 15 hours before San Diego Police Department was notified. SDPD learned of the death from a TV news reporter.
• Rodney Scott — acting deputy chief patrol agent of the San Diego sector — signed an administrative subpoena to obtain Hernandez Rojas’s medical and autopsy records before police could access them. CBP then declined to share those records with SDPD, citing medical privacy. Administrative subpoenas of this type are legally authorized for immigration enforcement only, not for investigating agent-involved deaths.
• CIIT dispersed civilian witnesses; contact information was not documented.
• CIIT personnel were present during witness interviews and the autopsy, providing unauthorized control over evidence and witness management.
• CIIT possessed a different version of the arrest report from what was provided to law enforcement authorities — Border Patrol reports, per former CBP Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Wong, “could be altered without leaving an electronic fingerprint.”
• Government surveillance footage from the crossing was not provided to investigators; officials later claimed footage “didn’t exist or was destroyed.”

Three former DHS officials submitted sworn affidavits to the IACHR documenting the obstruction:

• James Tomsheck (CBP Internal Affairs, ~2006-2014): ordered to falsify reports; cover-up reached “the entire chain of command.”
• James Wong (CBP Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Internal Affairs): agents who destroyed video evidence “should have been prosecuted.”
• John Dupuy (DHS Assistant Inspector General): DHS OIG investigation fell “short of investigative standards.”

Why This Event Matters

The Anastasio Hernandez Rojas case is the canonical worked example of the CIT cover-up architecture for three reasons:

1. Depth of documented record: Fifteen years of legal proceedings, civil litigation, IACHR proceedings, congressional hearings, and investigative reporting have produced a documented comparison between what CIT/CIIT found and what external investigators, sworn affidavits, bystander video, and the Medical Examiner found. The discrepancy is documented at primary-source level.

2. Named chain-of-command accountability: Rodney Scott — who supervised the CIIT that managed the scene and signed the improper subpoena in 2010 — is now (2025-2026) CBP Commissioner under Trump-2, overseeing the OPR that inherited CIT functions. The personnel rotation is documented: the supervisor of the canonical cover-up unit now runs the institution that replaced it. This is not a historical accountability failure; it is an ongoing structural one.

3. International tribunal ruling: The IACHR’s April 28, 2025 merits decision is the first extrajudicial killing case involving U.S. law enforcement decided against the United States by an international human rights body. It ordered a reopened criminal investigation. The U.S. has not complied.

Accountability outcome through 2026: No criminal charges against any agent (DOJ declination: November 6, 2015). No agent disciplined or fired. Civil settlement: $1,000,000 (March 30, 2017, distributed to five children). IACHR order to reopen investigation not implemented.

Broader Context

The San Diego CIIT was one of the earliest and largest CIT units — the San Diego sector formed its unit in 1987, making it the founding CIT. By 2010, when Hernandez Rojas was killed, the CIIT was an established institutional apparatus operating without statutory authority (the GAO’s 2024 review confirmed that CITs operated without statutory authorization for 35 years). The CIIT’s stated mission — documented in ACLU FOIA releases — included “mitigation of civil liability” for Border Patrol agents, directly contradicting any neutral investigative posture.

The case triggered the cascade of political action that disbanded the CITs: the Southern Border Communities Coalition’s October 2021 letter to Congress cited the Hernandez Rojas case as the triggering example; the January 2022 ten-committee-chair letter to the GAO; and CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus’s May 2022 disbandment memorandum. The GAO’s May 2024 report (GAO-24-106148) confirmed that former CIT members were reassigned to Evidence Collection Teams and Management Inquiry Teams under the same sector-chief command structure — the cover-up apparatus continued under different names.

Joe Vaiasuso: Senior Patrol Agent Joe Vaiasuso is documented as a San Diego CIIT member who worked both the Hernandez Rojas case (2010) and the Valeria Tachiquin Alvarado case (2012). Per Jenn Budd’s April 10, 2026 Substack reporting, Vaiasuso is among the named CIIT personnel whose post-2022 OPR status is not confirmed at primary-source level.

Research Gaps

• Named agents who participated in the beating: not in public record; PACER/sealed civil discovery required
• Full SBCC October 2021 14-page letter text: referenced but not publicly accessible as standalone document
• CIIT’s internal case report: not obtained via FOIA or litigation in publicly accessible form
• Vaiasuso’s and Smith’s current OPR assignment status: documented in CIIT context (Tachiquin, Hernandez Rojas); post-2022 status unconfirmed at primary-source level
• DOJ declination memo text: November 6, 2015 announcement; reasoning document not public

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