Please ask the parents of Esequiel Hernandez and the residents of
Redford, Texas, if the border strategy of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service is a success.

The strategy to militarize the U.S.-Mexico border is another
policy of wasted money and failures. Part of INS Commissioner
Doris Meissner's strategy to "improve the quality of life along
the border" includes the deployment of Marines in Redford, Texas
without the knowledge of the local residents.

The Marines are part of a Joint Task Force 6 operation which was
responsible for the Waco incident. In May, camouflaged Marines
were camped out on private property along the Rio Grande River
for four days before 18 year old Hernandez was shot by one of
them from 200 yards away while tending his family's goats. ...

Black unmarked military helicopters daily patrol the small valley
and fly at rooftops during the night. Because of the military
occupation and the results of this border strategy families will
not let their children wander in the fields or along the roads in
this community of 100 people. Sadness and anger pervades Redford
at the killing of one of the best and brightest of the small
number of young people in this rural farming community on the Rio
Grande River. A delegation of four including the town's priest, a
community leader, Esquiel's uncle and sister, went to Washington,
DC, and met with General McCaffrey and Commissioner Meissner. The
Redford delegation was also told the strategy is "to improve the
quality of life for the citizens of Redford." The matter is being
ignored and buried by the government and the press. With the
increase by 1,000 of Border Patrol agents in Texas and New Mexico
and the increase in military strategies within the United States
there will be more deaths of innocent Americans with no remedy
from the government that killed them.

It is time to end the "war on drugs" era of drug prohibition. It
is time to redirect resources toward policies that actually
benefit the average American citizen. Money should be spent on
effective drug prevention programs such as education, jobs, and
after-school programs. Resources should be spent on treatment for
those citizens that have drug taking problems rather than for
arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment for such individuals. And
money should not be spent for the military to become involved in
domestic law enforcement and local police activities. ...

Steven T. Bunch
Albuquerque