The one thing they accomplished was to blow away a Mexican sheperd boy tending his goats on Mexican soil. Lets not leave out the fact that the boy shot at the Marines first, and I do believe it happened in Texas, not Mexico.
I don't think anyone is saying that the marines did a bad job being marines, but rather that the marines did a "bad" job as cops. :-)
Yes, it did happen in Texas. I believe the closest town was Redmond, Texas. The victim was Esequiel Hernandez a young goatherder of about 19 years of age.
Young Hernandez routinely carried a .22-caliber rifle to shoot at predators. By some accounts, the Marines had tracked Hernandez. The Marines claimed Hernandez had shot at them. The first accounts said the Marines were wearing Ghillie Suits. As I thought about this unfortunate incident, I reflected that maybe a man wearing a Ghillie Suit making any movement, however slight, could be mistaken for a predator at a distance.
I believe this happened when George W. Bush was governor of Texas. The Texas Rangers were pissed at Border Patrol, the Marines and Joint Task Force Six (JTF-6). The Marines were transferred. A Texas Grand Jury convened at Marfa, Texas had a hearing on this case. I wonder what the transcripts. Show. A spokesman for JTF-6 said at the time the military wanted out of this kind of situation. Here's a couple of stories with links to other stories.
(1)
http://www.vikingphoenix.com/politics/Election2000/Issues2000/NationalSecurity/marfa-1.htm
(2)
http://www.vikingphoenix.com/politics/Election2000/Issues2000/NationalSecurity/marfa.htm
I think that a thorough and deliberate examination of the Esequiel Hernandez case should be introduced to debates on Posse Comitatus.
There have been other shootings on the border with Mexican smugglers and Mexican military shooting at American military and Border Patrol. I recall one anecdote of a U.S. Special Forces soldier wounded in one such encounter.