On February 25, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that foreign nationals cannot file civil rights claims in American courts. Hernandez et al v. Mesa [3]involved the killing of a fifteen-year-old Mexican national on Mexican soil at the Texas border by Jesus Mesa, a U.S. Border Patrol Agent. The deceased's family sued for damages under Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents [4], under which the Supreme Court allowed a Fourth Amendment claim for damages, despite a lack of authorization for such a suit under federal law. Though Bivens has since been expanded upon, the Supreme Court declined to extend it to claims based on cross-border shootings, a context which was, to the Court, "different . . . from previous Bivens cases" and presents a "risk of disruptive intrusion by the Judiciary into the functioning of other branches." Additional factors cited by the Court as counseling against expanding Bivens as argued, included: (1) the impingement on foreign relations; (2) undermining border security; and (3) Congress's repeated declination to "authorize the award of damages against federal officials for injury inflicted outside U.S. borders." The Court amalgamated its concerns under the larger umbrella of respecting the separation of powers and underscored that it is for Congress to determine whether damages in such cases are appropriate.