Posted on 07/09/2008 11:49:04 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
SAN JUAN - A group of nonprofit agencies in the Rio Grande Valley said Wednesday they were suing the U.S. Border Patrol for clear answers on whether there would be document checks of residents fleeing a hurricane.
The lawsuit, to be filed Wednesday in federal court in McAllen, claims conflicting statements by U.S. Customs and Border Protection have brought fear and confusion to a region where many families are split between unauthorized immigrants and U.S. citizens or legal residents.
Those families have said they would not evacuate if there were reason to fear deportation as they board buses or pass immigration checkpoints north of the Valley.
There was a media storm in May after CBP agents were spotted rehearsing document checks during a mock evacuation and a spokesman said it would be “business as usual at the checkpoints.” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff later said their agents would not impede a safe evacuation, which local officials took as acknowledgement that agents would have to let up on document checks.
But the nonprofits, including churches and self-help organizations, say people are not going to risk deportation by trying to guess CBP’s plans.
“If CBP is allowed to create consternation and confusion, it could lead to catastrophic loss of life,” lawyers with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid say in the lawsuit.
Legal Aid attorney Eric Rodriguez said the Border Patrol’s ambiguity had “set in motion the waves for a perfect storm.”
lbrezosky@express-news.net
Exactly. Although in fairness, in this situation, I could forgive them for bypassing document checks. If there’s a hurricane bearing down, it’s more important to just get the people the heck out of Dodge. Anything that slows that process up could cost lives.
The concept of showing proof of citizenship for various government services is one I wholeheartedly agree with. The concept of internal document checks during movement from point A to point B—”your papers, please”—doesn’t sit well with me.
}:-)4
Saul Alinsky tactics.
Valle ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
This is just another example of our nation being nit-picked to death.
Any discrepancies at all should send the officers immediately to the unemployment line or jail & their staffs packing back over their namesake.
They can always evacuate to the west or south into Mexico.
WHATEVER! Keep that inner tube you came in on fully inflated.
<...many families are split between unauthorized immigrants and U.S. citizens or legal residents. Those families have said they would not evacuate if there were reason to fear deportation...>
We don’t want scofflaws in this country of ours. The breakdown of law and order always starts small. Next thing you know farmers and ranchers will begin to ignore environmental restrictions, and as for civil rights - what’s that?
How about someone suing these America-hating Mex Klux Klan pressure groups? There would not be a problem if these people did not break the law in the first place
Civil Rights? It's for those who do not believe in our system of inalienable individual rights, as they prefer to have group rights trump individual rights.
>>>The concept of showing proof of citizenship for various government services is one I wholeheartedly agree with. The concept of internal document checks during movement from point A to point B—”your papers, please”—doesn’t sit well with me.
I have to agree. Stopping every car and checking every person for proper identification (will all children have to carry their birth certificates with them as they evacuate to prove citizenship?) could end up costing the lives of many legal residents in an effort to catch a few illegals.
What a neat way to sneak in!
It’s kind of hard to have border security when you leave the highways open.
Not every car is going to be stopped. Only the cars that the Border Patrol Agents suspect are carrying illegal aliens are going to be stopped.
They ask me if I’m a US citizen at the checkpoints. I say, “Yes, sir”, then salute when they tell me to drive on.
There are always a few who try to make it through during a hurricane. Loco!
>>>It’s kind of hard to have border security when you leave the highways open.
I’m not opposed to border security, I just think that choosing to enforce the law when trying to relocate hundreds of thousands of people as rapidly as possible might not be the best timing.
>>>Not every car is going to be stopped. Only the cars that the Border Patrol Agents suspect are carrying illegal aliens are going to be stopped.
That may be the case but the article did not say that there would be selective enforcement. Also, in south Texas I’m guessing a very large percentage of the population (legal and illegal, citizen and alien) is of Hispanic descent. If looking selectively for illegal Hispanics, that could mean stopping a lot of cars.
How long can it take to show proof of citizenship. How many days in advance people know there is a hurricane coming> They don't sneak up on you like an earthquake for heavens sake.I live on the Texas coast and we know days in advance.
>>>How long can it take to show proof of citizenship
I would think that properly reviewing the citizenship documentation of each passenger in a vehicle would take longer than paying a toll on a turnpike, yet it is common practice for states like Florida to suspend toll collections during hurricane evacuations to speed the process.
Well if they are illegal then that's a good thing. Of course that's probably not what you meant. Not every person of Hispanic descent is stopped. Working a Border Patrol checkpoint is a big pain in the ass. No agent wants to stop somebody they don't absolutely have to.
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