Emergency at the border

DASHING in from school, he grabbed a sandwich, his .22caliber
rifle, his hat and beaded for the desert brash to tend the family's goat
herd. The desert of Texas is a dangerous place, what with snakes, coyotes
and wild pigs, javelinas; sixguns, rifles and shotguns are necessary to
survival.
Ezequlel Hernandez was 18 years old the last time he took his goats
out to forage May 20. Late that afternoon, Ezequlel saw something to
shoot at; no one knows what. He fired twice, then walked away, tending
his foraging goats. As far as he knew, there wasn't a soul within a mile.
He didn't see four clumps of bushes, individually and apart, following
him; at least they looked like bushes. They followed him hundreds of yards:
the length of 2 football fields at least. They were United States Marines.
They were part of Joint Task Force6, a combined military and Border Patrol
operation assigned to sniff out drag mugglers in the desert.
This and other similar task orces have been operating along the Mexican
border for five years or so, with minimal publicity. Minimal publicity is
called for, you see, because using soldiers as police to enforce civilian
laws is illegal. It has been since the 1870s.
FEDERAL troops were used in Los Angeles in 1992 when looters and thugs
torched the city and killed at will. But that was a true emergency. Today,
there are some who think we should use troops on the border, for they
consider the daily movement of megals across the border an emergency.
They think it's an "invasion," a threat to our "sovereignty," a "mortal
threat" to the United States of Ainerica, in general, and to California and
the Southwest, in particular. They want troops on the border. They want
them now!
Democratic Congressman James Trafficante of Ohio does also. That's
why he introduced a bill that passed in the House of Representatives
authorizing the president to use up to 10,000 troops on the border just a
month after Ezequiel Hernandez went out the last time to herd his goats.
No such effort exists, however, in the Senate.
Using hand signals, and heavily trained movements, these four Marines
moved like phantoms across the desert, from rock to rock, bush to bush,
arroyo to arroyo, stalking the 18yearold, the boy who didn't have a clue
they were there. Nor was he aware, we think, that anyone was anywhere in
the area when he fired his rille twice.
As the boy raised his rifle to fire again, at whatever it was he saw,
Cpl.(E4) Clemente Banuelos, United States Marine, Fire Team leader, from a
concealed prone position 240 yards to Hernandez' right, squeezed off one
single round from his M16 rifie.
Hernandez fell in his tracks, one shot through his right ribs.
Twentytwo minutes later, the Marines radioed the Border Patrol that a
"man was down." The patrol arrived 20 minutes later. Two minutes after
they arrived, a helicopter was called. No matter, the boy was dead.
The Marines were interviewed by sheriff's deputies, then spirited out of
Texas four days later. The Texas Rangers entered the case. The Rangers have
not been permitted to reinterview the Marines. The Rangers' investigation
includes a walkthrough of the shooting scene. In brief, the facts as
related by the Marines don't fit with the scene and physical evidence.
RANGER Captain Barry Carver is quoted in the Associated Press as saying,
"a lot of little things don't quite fit." The Rangers and district
attorneys are talking indictment of Cp1. Banuelos, indictment for murder,
and of the three other Marines on lesser charges, criminal negligence and
reckless endangerment of human life.
The Marines? "We fully stand behind the level of training our Marines
receive and believe the Marines in this case acted in accordance with the
established rules of engagement and were using lawful selfdefense," stated
Major Len Ryan on the weekend news leaked out of possible indictments. They
have assigned a Marine lawyer to advise Banuelos, who's stationed at Camp
Pendleton, 1,500 miles west of where Hernandez was killed.
Marines who have actually served in the desert on this task force duty
revealed that few, if any, Marines who have so served, care for the idea
and believe that the $100,000 spent to have their team in the desert for
several weeks could have been better spent.
If Banuelos is charged and found guilty, he will be punished. One wonders,
however, if the rocket scientists who dreamed up assigning troops to the
border and were, as the Mexicans say, the "intellectual authors" of the
death of Ezquiel Rernandez, American citizen, will ever be punished, as well.

Raoul Contreras is a columnist and radio talk show host based in San Diego.