The U.S.-Mexico Border,
Then and Now, in Three Installments
Then, check back with us next month for Installment III of our border coverage, as we tell the stories of immigrants themselves and their arrival from the south.
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The U.S.-Mexico Border Installment II |
| A plethora of national media stories over the past two years has lamented how bad things are on the Texas border, and how challenged border officials are dealing with the thousands of migrants daily trying to cross the perilous Rio Grande. |
| This month, long-serving far-South Texas County Sheriffs give Noticias Southwest their unflinching, honest accounts of what's happening in their region--right now. |
| With more than 100 years of experience among them policing the southern border, if anyone would know the dark from the light, the good from the bad, or hope from despair, it would be them. |
| Please join us as our Chief Correspondent Sammie Ann Wicks takes us on a real-life journey through the border, with the prospect of a new era for all those gathered there. |
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Immigrants seeking entry to the U.S. by crossing the Rio Grande in South Texas |
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Earlier this year, a veteran South Texas law officer told Noticias Southwest he vividly remembered the previous summer when Texas Governor Greg Abbott transported a group of immigrants by bus from the southern border region to Martha's Vineyard--the East-Coast island off Cape Cod frequented by some of the country's most affluent (and liberal) social classes. "Those folks out there only had to deal with a bus-load of people," the officer mused, with weary frustration. "Now--imagine dealing with a thousand people a day. They"ll see what we're up against and help us find a solution." The lawman's tone evinced no cynicism, or animosity towards the immigrants, or even a strong political motive: just the exhaustion of a veteran peace-keeper frayed by Herculean responsibilities that seemingly had no end. (The officer spoke to us on condition of confidentiality to freely discuss sensitive issues.)
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"They only had to deal with a bus-load of people--imagine dealing with a thousand a day." | |
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That officer's sentiments, echoing those of other border law enforcement personnel, local officials, and community leaders, until last month had been the prevailing mood. Yet after the expiration of the controversial U.S. statute called Title 42 at 11:59 p.m. EDT May 11, an undeniable shift has occurred, as South Texas county sheriffs reported to Noticias Southwest last week--the lead story we present to you here.
But first, let's review the developments that unfolded over the last roughly two years to put the reality of today's border situation in perspective. Early on, and throughout his two terms as president, Barack Obama's aggressive stance on border immigration policy drew harsh criticism from the Left, and earned him the pejorative moniker "Deporter-in-Chief," coined by the National Council of La Raza, the U.S.'s largest Hispanic political organization. After failing to persuade the president to compromise on his policies, the NCLR in 2014 publicly broke with him, with some among its leadership even demanding he "do penance." Obama had in fact been responsible for deporting 2 million immigrants that year--more than his two Democratic and Republican predecessors combined. By the end of his time in office, the number of deportations he oversaw had grown to more than 3 million--more than any president in U.S. history. By contrast, the administration of George W. Bush deported just over 2 million; and the Clinton presidency, 869,646. Donald Trump, on the other hand, deported far fewer immigrants than any of his three predecessors. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistical report published in 2017 during Trump's first year in office showed 300,000 deportations, the lowest number of immigrants deported since 1971; and in 2018, the report documented 400,000.
and the Archaic Title 42 When Donald Trump in March, 2020 invoked the Public Health Service Act of 1944 to block immigrants from crossing the U.S. border, he was denounced by progressives for putting the archaic law to purposes to which it was not intended, and for solely using it to serve his administration's harsh anti-immigrant stance. Originally passed a year before the end of World War II, and signed into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Federal statute, often referred to as Title 42, was enacted to place checks on immigration at the U.S.'s borders as a means of protecting Americans from disease during wartime. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration effected that statute, U.S. Code 265 (or section 42), and authorized the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to require that deep immigration restrictions at the border be enacted in the name of public health. The CDC's order allowed immigration officials to immediately remove migrants from the border, including those who had come seeking asylum--a right that had been granted in the U.S. and in countries across the world for centuries; but pro-Title 42 proponents argued border locations where immigrants were being received were ill-equipped to vet them for the virus, or to enforce safe social distancing. With the election of President Joe Biden, immigrants took heart in the expectation that a progressive Democratic administration would be more welcoming of them; and could be seen in media images of the time holding signs with such messages as, "Mr. Biden, please let us in." The new president's supporters, however, were shocked to learn he was retaining the Trump administration's Title 42 order, partially as a stopgap attempt to reduce the unprecedented number of immigrant arrivals while Biden conferred with border law enforcement to enact more effective modus operandi. A firestorm of protest against Biden's handling of the border situation ensued, with charges he was violating long-held asylum rights and breaking campaign promises being lodged by Liberals; and accusations he was promoting an "open border" coming from the Right, who warned of an "invasion." But with unflagging numbers of diverse peoples from the south approaching the border, it was clear to those charged with their presence and needs that the usual standard order of procedure wasn't working. Something had to be done. Given the restrictions of Title 42, however, and the seemingly inadequate immigration policies implemented by a long succession of national leadership from both political parties, just what should be done evaded the best thinkers. The greatest policy failure seems to have been the modern enactment of Title 42 itself, as reported on Oct. 15, 2021 and May 25, 2022 by the American Immigration Council. Its statistically-driven studies showed it was the effects of the statute that radically drove up numbers of immigrant arrivals. After the expulsion of 1.8 million immigrants from the border under Title 42, the Council reported "nearly half of those expulsions were of the same people being apprehended and expelled back to Mexico multiple times," leading report authors to conclude that it has been "Title 42 instead that has led to a significant increase in repeat crossings at the border." The Council went on to report that, of all single adults from a diversity southern countries expelled by the U.S. to Mexico under Title 42 ... a significant number was "apprehended crossing the border again."
*Prominent among those numbers were immigrants from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador (Source: American Immigration Council)
But the problem for President Biden remained: how to effectively quell the unmanageable numbers of immigrants trying to cross over, while reducing the burden on local officials on whose shoulders administrative responsibility fell.
Long-time County sheriffs at immigration's cutoff at the Texas border were among the first to speak.
"In The Final Analysis, We're Just Doing What We've Always Done-- Trying to Keep People Safe" | ||
| Texas border sheriff Joe Frank Martinez is a big, powerfully-built man whose words are habitually measured and quietly-spoken, a trait he has perfected over his 40 years of policing his far-south Texas region. But in an Op-Ed the long-time Val Verde County sheriff contributed to USA Today two years ago, his words leapt from the page, showing a man at the end of his tether, imploring--even demanding--that Washington leaders urgently engage. Why? Human life. "In all my 42 years here, I have never seen so many migrants risking their lives to cross the Rio Grande," the sheriff wrote in the April, 2021 USA Today piece. He went on to describe, case by painful case, of drowned immigrant crossers he and his deputies were tasked with pulling daily from the river, a task that left them heartsick. But Washington, it seemed, was not listening, still kicking the can down the road. And Martinez and his fellow sheriffs and other law enforcement officers, he said, had had enough. "I don't know whether to laugh or to cry when I hear Washington politicians arguing whether ... (the situation) at the border has reached the point of 'crisis,'" he groused. "I know there's a crisis. We are living it, every single day." | ||
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"I wish I could get Washington down here to stay a few days, and not just for a photo opportunity" | |
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Local, state, and county authorities continued to complain they had shouldered the full weight of a problem that was a Federal issue, arguing the historical lack of effective engagement with immigration policy by lawmakers in both parties was to blame. Martinez challenged leadership at the national capital to take one simple step to show good faith: "I wish I could invite Washington decision-makers (here) ... to stay a few days," he wrote, "and not just for a photo opportunity." Sheriff Martinez went on to say his ability to police his region effectively hits his human resources the hardest. "To show you what we're still dealing with, let me just give you some numbers," Sheriff Martinez told Noticias Southwest last month."My county, Val Verde County, has over 3,000 square miles," he said. "And on any given day, I have four deputies per shift. That's to patrol our whole county jurisdiction. You can see the problem." Policing the entire geographical region--Border Patrol's Del Rio Sector, the sheriff said, poses even greater challenges for law-keepers , not only as they labor to protect their own constituents, but in recent months, to deal with unheard-of numbers of immigrants surging through their own wide region. "Look--the Del Rio Sector, which we're part of, is 46 counties," the Val Verde sheriff recounted, repeating what he's so often told Federal and Texas state lawmakers: his law enforcement body has neither the personnel nor the other resources to assume responsibility for a mainly Federal issue. "There were many times the last few years when three of my total four deputies spent over half of their days holding immigrants while waiting for Border Patrol to come take possession," the sheriff charged. "And that in addition to taking care of our own." The sheriff also told us he's often not only responsible for housing, transporting, and feeding new arrivals, but for humanitarian outreach, like helping his charges connect and join with U.S. family or friends. One of the Val Verde sheriff's fellow officers in the Eagle Pass region in 2022 also shared regret over the loss of immigrant lives in the vast land area he helps police. |
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