Esequiel Hernández Jr.

{{Infobox person

| name = Esequiel Hernández

| image =

| caption =

| birth_name = Esequiel Hernández Jr.

| birth_date = {{birth date|1979|5|14}}

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{death date and age|1997|5|20|1979|5|14}}

| death_place = Redford, Texas

| nationality = American

| known_for = High school student killed by United States Marines

| height =

| parents =

}}

Esequiel Hernández Jr. (May 14, 1979{{spaced ndash}}May 20, 1997) was an 18-year-old American high school student killed on May 20, 1997, by United States Marines in Redford, Texas, located approximately one mile from the United States–Mexico border.{{cite magazine | magazine=Time | last=Gwynne/Marfa | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986881,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050113075123/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986881,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 13, 2005 | title=Border Skirmish | date=1997-08-25 | accessdate=2008-07-11}} Hernández was the first American civilian to be killed by military personnel while on duty in the United States since the 1970 Kent State shootings,{{cite news | first=Monte | last=Paulsen | publisher=Austin Chronicle | url=http://www.dpft.org/hernandez/paulsen.htm | title=Fatal Error: The Pentagon's War on Drugs Takes a Toll on the Innocent | date=1998-12-25 | accessdate=2008-07-11}} and led to Secretary of Defense William Cohen issuing a temporary suspension of troop patrols near the U.S.–Mexico border.{{cite news | last=Kasindorg | first=Martin | work=USA Today | url=http://www.dpft.org/hernandez/usat_073097.html | title=Pentagon Pulls Troops Off Drug Patrols | date=1997-07-30 | accessdate=2008-07-11}} The shooting inspired the 2005 movie The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada by Tommy Lee Jones, and the 2007 documentary The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez.{{cite news | first=Manohla | last=Dargis | work=The New York Times | url=https://movies.nytimes.com/2005/12/14/movies/14buri.html | title=Dead Man Rising: An Odyssey in Texas | date=2005-12-14 | accessdate=2008-07-11}}

Death

U.S. Marines Ronald Wieler Jr., Ray Torres Jr., James Matthew Blood, and their fire-team leader, San Francisco native Clemente Bañuelos (all between the ages of 19 and 22), on drug patrol and heavily camouflaged in ghillie suits, came upon Hernández herding goats. The camouflaged Marines observed the 18-year-old high school student from concealment at a distance of approximately 200 yards while maintaining radio contact with their unit.{{cite news|publisher=Hartford Advocate |url=http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=8533 |title=On the Border |date=2008-06-30 |accessdate=2008-07-11 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080715175613/http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=8533 |archivedate=2008-07-15 |url-status=dead }} Hernández, who was carrying a .22 caliber rifle that family members said he used to fend off predators, shot in the direction of the Marines. Continuing to call for Border Patrol assistance, the Marines proceeded to track Hernández for 20 minutes, until Bañuelos shot and killed him, with the bullet entering the armpit on his right side.{{cite magazine | first=Robert | last=Draper | authorlink=Robert Draper | magazine=Texas Monthly | url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/soldiers-of-misfortune-2/ | title=Soldiers of Misfortune | date=August 1997 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404025752/https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/soldiers-of-misfortune-2/ | archivedate=2018-04-04}}

Investigation

A congressional investigation into the killing was scheduled for September 1997.{{cite news | first=Judy | last=Wiessler | publisher=Austin Chronicle | url=http://www.dpft.org/hernandez/hc_071797.html | title=House panel plans probe of S. Texas border killing | date=1997-07-17 | accessdate=2008-07-11}} A grand jury examined the fatal shooting and considered criminal charges against the four Marines,{{cite news | first=Sam | last=Howe Verhovek | work=The New York Times | url=http://www.dpft.org/hernandez/nyt_073197.html | title=Grand Jury to Examine Fatal Shooting of 18-Year-Old by Marine | date=1997-07-31 | accessdate=2008-07-11}} but did not indict any of the Marines involved in the shooting.{{cite news | first=Charles | last=Zeve | publisher=CNN | url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9708/14/border.shooting/ | title=Grand jury doesn't indict Marine in border shooting | date=1997-08-14 | accessdate=2008-07-11}} The Justice Department subsequently dropped its investigation.{{cite news | first=Anne S. | last=Lewis | publisher=Austin Chronicle | url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A632179 | title=Tragedy on the Border | date=2008-06-06 | accessdate=2008-07-11}} The Marine Corps also investigated the killing.{{cite report | first=John T. | last=Coyne | publisher=United States Marine Corps | url=http://www.dpft.org/hernandez/coyne.htm | title=Investigation to Inquire Into the Circumstances Surrounding the Joint Task Force-6 (JTF-6) Shooting That Occurred on 20 May 1997 Near the Border Between the United States and Mexico| date=1998-04-07}} In 1998, the U.S. government paid the Hernández family $1.9 million to settle a wrongful death claim.{{cite news | first=Thaddeus | last=Herrick | newspaper=Houston Chronicle | url=http://chron.com/content/chronicle/page1/98/08/12/border-shooting_2-0.html | title=Family to receive $1.9 million in border shooting | date=1998-08-12 | page=A1 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Clemente Bañuelos, the 22-year-old U.S. Marine who fatally shot Hernández, was not charged.{{cite news | first=Michelle | last=Mittelstadt | newspaper=Austin Chronicle | url=http://www.dpft.org/articles/nocharges.htm | title=Feds won't press charges in border shooting | date=1998-02-26 | accessdate=2008-07-12 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719164050/http://www.dpft.org/articles/nocharges.htm | archive-date=2008-07-19 | url-status=dead }}

Impact on policy

Following the killing, the militarization of the U.S.–Mexico border came under harsh scrutiny, with Defense Secretary William Cohen halting the use of military anti-drug patrols on the border, limiting the use of armed forces on the border for years to come.{{cite news| title=Border killing 20 years ago changed military tactics| first=John| last=MacCormack| url=https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Border-killing-20-years-ago-changed-military-11142713.php| date=May 13, 2017 | access-date= May 10, 2021| work=San Antonio Express-News}} As then-president Donald Trump in 2018 ordered active-duty troops to the U.S.–Mexico border in Operation Faithful Patriot, the military killing of the teenager resurfaced in the public debate as a cautionary tale.{{cite news| title=U.S. Troops Went to the Border in 1997. They Killed an American Boy.| first=Manny| last=Fernandez| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/us/esequiel-hernandez-death-border-mexico.html| date=November 27, 2018| access-date= May 10, 2021| work=The New York Times}}{{cite news| title=How the tragic killing of an American teenager halted the military border presence in 1997| first=Samantha| last=Schmidt| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/04/06/how-the-tragic-killing-of-an-american-teenager-halted-the-military-border-presence-in-1997/| access-date=May 10, 2021| date=April 6, 2018| newspaper=The Washington Post}} In part due to the killing of Hernandez, many military officials continue to oppose domestic deployment of troops.{{cite news | url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/04/esequiel-hernandez-the-american-teenager-killed-by-u-s-troops-on-border-deployment.html | title=In 1997, U.S. Troops Killed a "Drug Smuggler" at the Border Who Was Actually an American Teenager Herding Livestock | date=April 5, 2018 | first=Ben |last=Mathis-Lilley |access-date=September 9, 2021 |work=Slate}}

''The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez''

The 2007 documentary The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez explores his killing by Marines, analysing both sides of the issue. It won best-documentary awards at the Mexico City Film Festival and Santa Fe Film Festival in 2007 and at the El Paso festival in 2008. It is directed by Kieran Fitzgerald{{cite news | first=Michelle | last=Casady | publisher=Houston Chronicle | url=http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/5876001.html | title=Documentary explores Texas teen's killing by Marines | date=2008-07-08 | accessdate=2008-07-11}} and narrated by Tommy Lee Jones. The documentary premiered July 8, 2008 on PBS.

External links

PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer broadcast August 13, 1997 [http://www.dpft.org/hernandez/pbs_081397.html Casualties of the Drug War]
Oversight Investigation of the Death of Esequiel Hernandez Jr.: A Report of Chairman Lamar Smith to the Subcommittee on Immigration & Claims of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, 150th congress. United States Government Printing, January 1998. {{ISBN|0-16-057719-5}} {{ISBN|978-0-16-057719-2}}