BORDER STRATEGY IS A DEADLY FAILURE

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 afterschool 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