Use Of U.S. Troops On Border Criticized Opposition Flares After Marine Shoots Young Civilian

Immigrant advocates again are questioning the use of U.S. troops to fight drug trafficking along the Mexican border after a Marine shot and killed a civilian.

Suzan Kern, coordinator of the Border Rights Coalition in El Paso, said allowing the military to guard the border was a “poorly conceived public policy.”

“They’re not local, they’re not trained as Border Patrol agents, and they probably don’t know the field very well,” Kern said. “You’re asking for more and more bloodshed.”

The Texas Rangers were investigating and military border activities in the area about 200 miles southeast of El Paso were suspended after the slaying of a high school student from Redford.

Ezequiel Hernandez Jr., 18, was shot Tuesday after opening fire on four Marines who were watching a suspected drug-trafficking route, the U.S. Border Patrol said. Hernandez fired twice and was getting ready to fire a third time when a non-commissioned officer leading the team shot him in the chest, Marine Col. Thomas Kelly said.

“We don’t shoot to kill. We shoot to defend. And that’s what they were doing - defending themselves,” Kelly said.

But relatives said Hernandez was just walking with his goats in search of better grazing about a half-mile away from the family’s home, and sometimes would target shoot.

“We never had any complaints about him,” said his sister, Gregoria Saenz. “He’d never get into any trouble. He was not capable of this.”

Military and Border Patrol officials expressed condolences but said they were puzzled by Hernandez’s actions.

“We don’t understand his intentions,” said Doug Kruhm, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol. “That’s what makes this a tragedy. We do not have any information that this individual was involved in criminal activity.”

Immigrant rights advocates reiterated their concern Thursday about using troops along the border to patrol for drug traffickers.

“It has been a creeping militarization of the border without much strategy or accountability or public debate,” said Lisa Navarrete, spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza. “Having a military presence on a peaceful border is not the image we want to have.”