people who say they'll come back here is getting smaller every day. >> thank you for watching al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford live in new york city. "fault line" is coming up next. and remember you can always follow us online at www.aljazeera.com. pharmacy chains will. >> he lay on the ground of his hometown of nogales mexico. and it traveled through an international boundary and into a legal have a couple.

the agent has never been named. >> found on the sidewalk. >> he could lose $2 billion in revenue every year as a result. we have been following this story, john, if you would, take your time and give us the details here. >> reporter: thank you very much, tony. good evening from the nation's capitol. sometimes i think a new story crosses the wires, and you just have to look at it and think this is a bit of a moment. we have one of america's largest corporations, and they are saying we're going to take all tobacco products off our shelves. in doing so they're making a political, social and business statement all in one. it could have ramifications in this country for years to come. a landmark decision from the nation's second largest pharmacy chain.

cvs's decision to stop selling all tobacco products this year could be a retail game changer. >> when we ask ourselves where do we expect to be in the future it became clear removing tobacco products from our stores is the right thing to do. >> reporter: cvs said it's decision will cost the company money, $2 billion, shares slipped on wall street with the news, but cvs vell sells, cigarettes is a small bees of it. the president of the united states responding with a written statement. today's decision will help my administration's efforts to reduce tobacco-related deaths, cancer, heart disease as well as bring down healthcare costs. the first lady tweeted, now we can all breathe a little easier, and the health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius

said : at the lung cancer ahaiyan at washington, d.c. the news was greeted with a cheer. >> bravo, cvs. bravo. just an extraordinary and powerful statement that will build on exciting momentum that we have to really invigorate our war against needless tobacco death. >> reporter: now cvs has made it's decision, what will happen next? >> reporter: well, that is the big question. let me explain where cvs fits in the big scheme of things. on wall street it is categorized as a pharmacy chain, and it is number two against walgreen's. walgreen's is bigger. so the question is what will walgreen's do?

they issued a statement saying we've been thinking about this, too, quite frankly, for a long time, and they said in the statement that they put out that in the very least it will require them to consider the location of tobacco products on their shelves in their stores. it could be at the very least be a retail game changer. >> is this potentially a death nail for that very or will it look to find distribution hubs elsewhere in the country. >> reporter: great question. the tobacco company has not made a comment, and there is a reason for that. this won't amount to a hill of beans for them. for them they've moved on from north america a long time ago. this is not their market any more. they take what they can get here, but to grow their business, which is what you have to do in any business environment, to grow their business they're looking to

latin america, asia, africa, parts of the world that are still developing, and where smoking unlike here in the united states, not frowned upon at all but extremely popular. >> john, it's interesting, we were talking about this a bit earlier, it will be curious to see what walgreen's does next. it seems to me that a decision like this from cvs puts all kinds of pressure on the 23,478 one, walgreen's, to make a similar decision. >> reporter: i think that's absolutely right. you have to remember that walgreen's is the number one player in this particular market. and they have issued a statement today in which they have said we

>> jose's death is part of what appears to be a disturbing new trend: us border patrol agents shooting across the line to kill mexican citizens in their own country. zelma berenice barron torres' son ramses was also killed by an agent in nogales in 2011.

>> the us government closed the investigation. zelma says she was never contacted. in 2012 guillermo arravalo pedroza, was picnicking on the banks of the rio grande when he was killed by agents. he died in his nine year old daughters arms. juan pablo parez satillan was shot near matamoros just two months earlier. in 2011, in tijuana, a witness says jose alfredo yanez reyes was killed for using his cell phone to record an agent beating a migrant. and sergio hernandez guerica was shot between the eyes under a bridge in juarez. in each case, the border patrol justified the killings saying they were threatened by rock-throwers. but getting them to speak on the record about anything at all proved difficult.

>> hi bill, this is wab knew calling from al jazeera english. we're down in nogales az right nowso i'm just calling to see if we would be able to arrange an interview and a ride along with an agent out here. >> well, we've sent emails, about, starting about six weeks ago. >> and why is that? >> yeah. >> yeah, it just seems a little opaque like i'm just trying to understand why the request was declined. >> what's happened is that with the border patrol being one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the country, they work with a population that doesn't work back with them. they're not like a police force that's in the same community that has to deal with residents that are upset that can vote that can sort of

mobilize against them. it's a population that almost everyone is going to be kicked out, going to wind up in mexico, and because of that there hasn't been any ways in which they have to modify their activities, so there's almost no oversight, which is compounded by this idea that this is part of national security. when someone looks at a case like jose antonio elena your like this does not have anything to do with national security! right? this doesn't! >> in the twilight hours, when most of the country is sleeping, we're out there. >> after 911 the border patrol rewrote it's mission. >> "it is the job of the border patrol to prevent terrorists from entering the united states" >> there was a huge push to hire agents and build up the force on the border. so the government produced these flashy promo videos, spent millions of dollars sponsoring a race car and recruited heavily at professional bull-riding events in an effort to fill the hiring quotas. to speed the build up, job

requirements were lowered: no need to graduate high school, or even get a ged. and customary lie detector tests and screenings were deferred or ignored. even defenders of the border patrol admit this was problematic. >> it was so fast, that they were hiring people and they weren't able to complete the background investigations before these people started working on the job. that was crazy. mandatory training was reduced from 5 months to 58 days, especially impacting spanish instruction. the agency is now twice the size it was in 2004. >> we protect america are you up to the challenge? >> art del cueto is a border patrol agent and president of the tucson chapter of the largest border patrol union in the country. though his agency won't meet with us, he's agreed to talk to us off duty.

>> we're the first line of defense for the country. if i wasn't an agent, and i did not work for the united states border patrol, i would want somebody out here that had a little bit of a rah-rah attitude, where he really truly took his job serious and wantedto defend the country. that's my view on it. >> so there's been a few officer-involved shootings at the border that have gotten a lot of attention lately 16 year old guy from the mexican side jose antonio and he was shot by a border patrol agent from the us side does that trouble you? >> well, we have several shootings, i can't freely speak about that one, because they're still looking into it. but what people don't understand when they say rocks the agents were rocked. i don't know what people's concept of a rock is, but it's huge rocks. it's not these little rocks. it's huge rocks. in, in areas that are populated, like closer to nogales, at times what they throw is it's chunks of cement! that are broken off the sidewalk. it's a dangerous job.

>> there've been 16 deaths of border patrol agents in the last 5 years. thirteen of those were accidents. two agents struck by a freight train, one died when his vehicle hit a bull. another was killed by friendly fire. in five years, three were killed through assault. >> there was a systematic study done a couple of years ago that border patrol has lower incidence of violence used against themthan municipal police departments. >> statistically, the more than 20,000 agents who patrol the country's border have one of the safest law enforcement jobs in the country. in fact, one of the larger problems, is boredom. >> it doesn't mean that it's never dangerous. there are bandits out there, there are drug organizations what they're not really getting is preparation for the boring non-risky reality of almost all

their career. >> this can lead to lethal over-reactions, says heyman, who's been studying the use of force within the border patrol for much of his career. > you build up this urge to do something. this desire to be effective, a can do type of officer instead of having learned routines for how to handle the situation without risk to others. instead you have this kind of instinctive excitement. >> he says they aren't trained to de-escalate, or pull back out of risky situations. for those living along the border, this can mean the difference between life and death. in 2010 agent jesus mesa shot sergio adrian hernandez guarico under this bridge on the edge of juarez mexico. the us mexico border runs through the middle of the canal.

>> sergio and some of his friends who live on the mexican side of the border often were in that dry ravine, and they were there on that summer evening as well. >> a witness filmed what took place with a cell phone. bobbie mcdow was on the bridge that day too, and later provided this sworn statement to attorney bob hilliard. >> a border patrol agent grabbed a hold of the one basically came into his arms. and he had his weapon in his right arm, and the young man in his left hand. i was very very worried i didn't feel there was any reason for him to have pulled his gun. >> he started firing his weapon, into mexico. [gun shots] >> the border patrol guy aims, and you hear two shots..and one hits sergio right between the eyes.

>> after the shooting stopped, i'm looking around and i see that there's someone on the ground underneath the black bridge. and i remember saying to my husband, "is that a body?" and he says, "yes". >> so there's no indication that there was something to justify lethal force? >> there's a fabricated fbi report that came out the very next day before they realized there was a video, that claimed the border patrol agent was surrounded and being pelted by rocks and in fear for his life. >> hilliard read this fbi statement to bobbie during her sworn testimony. this was her response: >> that was not true. there was no one surrounding him throwing rocks. >> what happened next points to a problem unique to killings that cross international lines. sergio's family tried to sue the agent who shot their son. but the federal judge in el paso

dismissed the case. though the bullet traveled from the us, it landed in mexico. the united states constitution and any accountability did not travel with it. >> you have a child whose family cannot seek redress within the civil justice system for that conduct and it occurred only because of the vacuum which is our border. it's like walking out into the wild wild west and you're standing there at high noon and whatever you do is not reviewed anymore.

>> i thought that she was my property, and i could do as i please. >> abusive men... >> this is completely unregulated.. >> easy access to guns... >> there's somewhere around 1600 women being held every year >> a deadly combination... >> death could have been prevented... >> her and a hundred more women... >> it hurts to the core >> faultlines al jazeera america's hard hitting... ground breaking... truth seeking... >> they don't wanna see what's really going on >> break though investigative documentary series death in plain sight only on al jazeera america >> this is al jazeera america. live from new york. i'm jonathan betz with the top stories. the search continues for a missing malaysian jet that disappeared with 239 people on

board. rescuers spotted a large oil slick in the water off vietnam. >> european military observers were shot at as they tried to enter crimea. russia's foreign minister threatened retaliation if the west follows through with sanctions. >> protests in venezuela, as a student-led protest built. police moved in. >> the libya government is threatening to bomb a north korean oil tanker in the port. it will not let the ship leave because it bought oil from a rebel group. >> the republican party's largest meeting is hours away from wrapping up. newt gingrich fook the stage and sarah palin is set to speak after a list of hopefuls.

>> events around the globe for international women's day highlighting women's rights, reducing poverty and increasing help. >> those are the headlines. the documentary "locker by bomber" starts now. for further info go to aljazeera.com. began investigating the pan am bombing over lockerby scotland. over the next few weeks, as the 25th anniversary of the bombing approaches, we're now showing those two films on aljazeera america, before showing the results of a third a f