"RIGHT THIS WRONG"

The U.S. Border Patrol helped aim the gun that killed Esequiel Hernandez
Jr. near the Texas-Mexico border.

That's the conclusion of a scathing report on the 1997 shooting by U.S.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio. Smith's 249-page report concluded that the
surveillance mission was poorly conceived and hastily planned.

The young Marine who killed Hernandez was untrained and misinformed. And
there was shockingly little communication between local Border Patrol
agents and the Marines ostensibly working under their supervision. "The
Marines' unreadiness was compounded by a lack of training and support from
the Border Patrol," Smith said in a prepared statement. "For example, the
Marines were not told that innocent civilians in this part of the country
often carry weapons and are wary of intruders. ... The Marines were not
told that their observation post was located near a number of family homes,
including the Hernandez home. They were not told that Hernandez regularly
brought his goats to the Polvo Crossing area."

Smith accused both the Defense and Justice Departments of obstructing his
investigation into Hernandez's death.

But Smith, who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees the Border
Patrol, fired his sharpest criticism at the border agents' bosses at Justice.

"To this day, no Justice Department personnel have been held accountable
for their negligence or wrongdoing in the Hernandez killing," the
Republican representative said. "Attorney General Janet Reno should right
this wrong immediately." Smith contrasted Reno's response with that of the
Marine Corps, which released its exhaustive investigation into the shooting
and disciplined four Marine commanders.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service, parent agency of the Border
Patrol, responded in a statement that it "strongly disagrees with any claim
that the U.S. Border Patrol was directly responsible for this tragic
incident." Two Texas grand juries investigated the shooting, but issued no
indictments. The government paid the teen's family $1 million to settle a
civil claim.

The Pentagon has temporarily suspended armed military patrols on the
Southwest border, but could resume them at any time.

Checked-by: Richard Lake