REPORT CRITICIZES PROBE OF TEXAS BORDER SHOOTING

A congressional report to be made public Thursday is critical of the
Justice Department investigation into the shooting death of a Texas man by
U.S. Marines on an anti-drug patrol. "They simply did not do their job,''
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said Wednesday. "The next step is for the
Department of Justice to take some additional actions.''

The House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, which Smith heads,
launched its own review of the May 20, 1997, death of Esequiel Hernandez
Jr., 18, of Redford. The subcommittee is scheduled to release its report
Thursday, culminating more than a year of hearings and inquiries.

Smith said no further hearings are planned.

Neither federal nor state grand juries indicted the four Marines who were
on patrol when Hernandez was shot while herding his family's goats near the
Rio Grande. He died at the scene.

The Marines said Hernandez fired on the patrol, which was heavily
camouflaged and hiding on a ridge on the outskirts of Redford, an
agricultural town in the sparsely populated Big Bend region of West Texas.

Hernandez carried a .22-caliber rifle, and a Marine investigation into the
shooting concluded Cpl. Clemente Banuelos fired to protect the life of a
member of his patrol.

The Marine report also cited a lack of training for troops involved in
domestic operations and was critical of the poor radio communication
between Immigration and Naturalization Service officials and the military
patrol they were supervising.

Banuelos has been honorably discharged from the Marines.

The Navy Department, which oversees the Marines, agreed to a $1.9 million
out-of-court settlement with the Hernandez family, which had filed a
wrongful death claim against the government after the shooting.

"It was a tragic, tragic event,'' said Navy Secretary John Dalton, "My
heart goes out to the family of that young man who was taken.''

A Justice Department investigation cleared the Marine patrol of criminal
wrongdoing.

Smith launched the subcommittee probe into the incident when federal
agencies failed to turn over documents in the case.

Texas Rangers charged that military and federal officials hampered their
investigation by moving the Marines to out-of-state locations within days
of the shooting.

Smith said the subcommittee investigation focused on INS and Justice
Department handling of the shooting, and not whether Marines were
criminally negligent in the death.

"We didn't want to second-guess the grand jury,'' he said.

Smith said his subcommittee report would show that the Justice Department
failed to investigate the shooting thoroughly.

"In this incident, a number of actions were taken to prevent justice from
being carried out,'' Smith said.

The Marine investigation led to reprimands of supervisory personnel. But
the Justice Department probe produced no punishment for INS or Border
Patrol officials, who oversaw the Joint Task Force 6 military missions
along the Rio Grande.

Smith said the Justice Department investigation contained "glaring
omissions'' and failed to address policy questions involving training and
supervision.

Hernandez's death has drawn the attention of human rights groups opposed to
militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border to staunch drug smuggling and
illegal immigration.

Amnesty International has documented incidents of abuse by U.S. officials
against Mexican and American citizens in a recent report, "Human Rights
Concerns in the Border Region with Mexico.''

Nick Rizza, an Amnesty International spokesman in California, said reports
of escalating human rights abuses on the border violate standards
established by the international community and endorsed by the United
States and the United Nations.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson