Mexican authorities are naming a man accused of murdering a Border Patrol agent near Campo.
The country's federal police say the alleged gunman is 36-year-old Ernesto Parra Valenzuela. He was arrested Friday in Tecate and was reportedly carrying a Border Patrol-issued pistol.
Mexican police also announced the arrests of four men Saturday near Tecate, suspected of involvement in the shooting death of Robert Rosas. Federal investigators also arrested three people at a San Jose, California hospital, but it's not known what role they may have played in the killing.
The 30-year old agent was killed Thursday while responding alone to a suspected border incursion near Campo. He was shot in the head and body and was dead when other agents arrived, said Keith Slotter, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Diego bureau.
The men detained in Mexico are allegedly part of an immigrant smuggling ring. Twenty-one immigrants were found with the suspects when police detained them and seized four guns near Tecate, said Elias Alvarez Hernandez, coordinator of federal police in Baja California state.
Mexico police did not say what evidence they had against the four, whom they identified as Jose Quintero Ruiz, 43, and his brother Jose Eugenio Quintero Ruiz, 49, and taxi drivers Jose Alfredo Camacho, 34 and Antonio Valladares, 57.
This murder has put the immigration debate back in the spotlight. A volunteer with the Border Patrol Auxiliary says the government needs to do more to secure the border -- but some immigrant rights activists say it's a job that should be left up to trained agents, not civilians.
"I feel like something needs to be done," said Mike Schmid with Border Patrol Auxiliary. "I feel like our government doesn't do everything that they could. I have seen shootings out here and I have seen people on the other side ready with cocaine. It's one of those things we feared was going to happen. The reality is these guys have a dangerous job."
"What we've always said is let the border patrol handle the protection of the border," Enrique Morones with Border Angels. "We shouldn't have armed vigilantes out there; they do not have training, they make false claims."
Rosas, a three-year Border Patrol veteran, had a 2-year-old son and an 11-month-old daughter.
