SOME LAWMAKERS CLUELESS ABOUT LIFE ON THE BORDER

Lawmakers in the House have found it easy to support a bill that would put
military troops on the U.S. border with Mexico. Most, after all, don't live
on the border and aren't likely to find themselves in the shoes of Mr. and
Mrs. Esequiel HernE1ndez Sr.

They are the parents of Esequiel HernE1ndez Jr., the 18-year-old
high-schooler from Redford who one year ago was shot by a Marine on a drug
patrol.

They are as alien to U.S. Rep. James Traficant, D- Ohio, sponsor of
legislation that would allow troops to patrol the border, as the Southwest
border is to Capitol Hill. U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., proved it well
last week.

"Put the 82nd Airborne on maneuvers down there if you want to stop drugs,"
he said.

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, dutifully has sought answers from the
Justice and Defense departments on the circumstances surrounding
Hernandez's death.

Smith, who heads the House Immigration Subcommittee, also has pledged to
convene a hearing on the shooting and to discuss the use of military forces
on the border.

But the understanding seems to stop with him.

Traficant since last year has pushed his proposal, ignoring the pleas of
HernE1ndez's family and many others living on the border who don't want
their back yards to become a militarized zone.

Questions remain in the HernE1ndez incident, especially because the young
man was not involved in any wrongdoing when he was shot, let alone involved
with the drug trafficking that the border troops were intended to stop.

Those questions beg Congress to at least stall Traficant's proposal.

Surely lawmakers will find that the answer to preventing tragedies like
the one in Redford won't come by putting troops on the border.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski