Border Shooting

News Release

Hispanic Leader Calls for Investigation of Border Shooting

Incident was "Tragic Accident Waiting to Happen"

CONTACT, Selena Walsh, (202) 408-0060

For Immediate Release, 5/22/97

El Paso, Texas--A U.S. Hispanic leader has called for President Clinton to investigate an incident in which an 18 year old Hispanic man was shot and killed by U.S. Marines apparently involved in drug intelligence activities along the U.S-Mexico border. The incident occurred late Tuesday afternoon and has sparked attacks by numerous groups questioning the wisdom of the Secretary of Defense decision to assign military personnel to patrol civilian areas the along the US/ Mexico border. Today, Belen Robles, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens better known as LULAC the nation's oldest and largest Hispanic civil rights organization urged the president to act swiftly.

"This is a tragic example of why putting armed military personnel on the border is unwise.

Unfortunately it took the death of this young American to further demonstrate that is not right nor safe to put military troops to enforce civilian law within the Untied States," said Robles.

"President Clinton as Commander-in-chief needs to fully review this incident.

Robles called for the President to immediately appoint a high ranking commission to oversee investigation of the incident in which Ezequiel Hernandez, a teenage resident of Redford, Texas, was shot by U.S. Marines just a few hundred yards from his home as he grazed a herd of goats.

Robles called the military activity that caused this death a violation of Title Ten, US Code, Section 375, which prohibits the U.S. active military from participating in any type of law enforcement activity on U.S soil. "The military cannot run rampant at the border at the risk of innocent citizens."

We need to take a long, hard look at why we have armed military personnel on the border in civilian areas," said Robles. "This incident unfortunately proves that many questions LULAC and other civil rights organizations have had for some time about the potential for violation of civil rights of innocent Americans and legal immigrants were indeed warranted," added Robles. "Action by the President, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Defense to address this very serious issue must be of utmost priority."

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