Posted on 08/30/2005 1:01:42 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
HARLINGEN — If Elizabeth Martinez and Pedro Angel Galvéz were two illegal immigrants from Brazil instead of two illegal immigrants from Honduras and El Salvador, they probably wouldn’t have been sitting on a curb outside the Harlingen Border Patrol station Thursday afternoon.
That’s because the U.S. Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector, at least for the time being, is primarily targeting Brazilians for the expedited removal program.
If there is no detention bed space — which is usually the case, according to some agents — undocumented immigrants without criminal histories from places such as Central America, Asia and Africa are still given "Notices to Appear" and set free.
Martinez, 23, and Galvéz, 18, were released from Border Patrol’s custody Thursday and were each given a "Notice to Appear," which obliges them to appear before an immigration judge in their destination cities.
She’s going to Las Vegas; he’s going to Los Angeles to be reunited with his mother.
Some Rio Grande Valley Sector field agents say they don’t see the strategy of selectively enforcing the program on Brazilians as fair or effective, but according to Salvador Zamora, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol national spokesman, it is necessary, and it has been successful.
"The operational decision was made to start the program to address the enormous increase of Brazilians in this sector," Zamora said.
Before July 2 — the day expedited removal went into effect in this sector — agents apprehended an average of 130 Brazilian immigrants daily.
"For us, only Brazilians are being processed," said sector spokesman Roy Cervantes.
"It (expedited removal) is a border enforcement tool. It is not being applied to the same population in each sector," Zamora said.
Expedited removal can be described as "fast-track deportation," Zamora said. "It lends a lot of discretion to the front-line agent."
It is a deportation procedure that gives trained Border Patrol agents the authority to make the decision that would otherwise be made by an immigration judge.
Any adult undocumented immigrants, aside from Mexicans and Canadians, who are caught within 100 miles of the southern or northern borders, have not been in America for more than two weeks and show no signs of mental illness are eligible for expedited removal.
The ideal result of expedited removal would be that all eligible illegal immigrants spend less time in detention centers before they are returned to their home countries, and they would not be released into the United States with papers and empty promises that they will return to court for an immigration hearing.
It has been widely reported that nearly 90 percent of OTMs (Other than Mexicans) released on their own recognizance in the Rio Grande Valley sector do not show up for their court dates.
But because of a lack of bed space in detention centers, the only measured result of expedited removal so far is that Brazilian illegal entries in this sector have declined.
During the first three weeks of June when expedited removal was not in use yet, 2,701 Brazilians were apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. During the first three weeks of July, 1,517 Brazilians were caught. And a month into the program, from Aug. 1 to Aug. 21, a mere 232 Brazilians were captured.
"We hope the message has been sent loud and clear," Zamora said. "Days of walking up to a Border Patrol agent and asking for a permiso are long gone."
Maybe for Brazilians, but Martinez and Galvéz said potential border crossers from their home countries already know that expedited removal is not geared toward them.
"Brazilians don’t get papers," Galvéz said in Spanish, holding his notice to appear.
Zamora said the decrease of Brazilians seen in the Rio Grande Valley sector has not been reflected as an increase in adjacent sectors.
But a field agent working in the Del Rio Sector where expedited removal is not yet in place said agents there are catching 20 to 30 Brazilians a day versus 10 a week before expedited removal arrived in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. The field agent wished to remain anonymous for fear of losing his job.
"They are trying to stop the onslaught of Brazilians," said Richard Pierce, executive vice president of the National Border Patrol Council.
Letting one group of people go with notices to appear to make room in detention centers for others is unsound policy, though, he said. Anyone who is "ERed" is mandatorily detained. There must be bed space.
Another field agent working in the Rio Grande Valley sector — he, too, wished to remain anonymous for the same reason of job security — said even if there is bed space at one of the two detention centers in this area, he is required under expedited removal to process his catch and let the people go if they aren’t Brazilian and have no criminal history.
"ER (expedited removal) is a good program in theory," Pierce said. "If you have the bed space. … The program is not going to work without bed space."
The Bayview Detention Center in Port Isabel has more than 800 beds and the new South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall has more than 1,000 beds. It is the country’s largest contract detention facility.
"ER is not the cure-all," Zamora admits. "It is step in the right direction."
Coupled with an increase in personnel along the border and more technology, expedited removal can work, he said.
The agent in the Del Rio Sector said if expedited removal were not selectively enforced, it could act as a deterrent. He offered a solution to the problem: Because there is not enough bed space, apply expedited removal at random, he said. If the undocumented immigrants aren’t 100 percent sure that they will get their Notice to Appear — something they also erroneously call a "permiso;" they think it gives them the right to work, he said — they may not be so eager to travel the distance.
Furthermore, expedited removal must exist in all sectors. The Del Rio Sector has undergone training; however, the program has not been implemented.
"Local problem solvers" aren’t the answer, Pierce said. The government must address illegal immigration on a national level, he said.
Zamora said expedited removal will expand; however, there is no time table.
The program is contingent on cooperation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention and Removal and, of course, the budget, he said.
"We cannot just force a square object into a round hole. It has to be worked in unison. That’s where we’ve been slowly making progress," Zamora said.
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Cari Hammerstrom covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4424.
That's nice.
How far do you lead a brazilian. Are they quicker than mexicans?
Why Brazilians and not, say, Argentinians? I read the article twice and never figured out why it was Brazilians and not some other nationality other than Mexicans as well. Are Brazilians easier to catch? Roll a soccer ball through some scrub brush and up they pop? I don't get it. But then, I don't get a lot of our immigration actions. I sometimes think the INS decisions are made by the "Magic 8- ball" toy.
Of course not, take your time. We've got thirty, forty, fifty years, however long it takes before you finally decide to get serious on the border.
ping
Set up 1000 tents behind some concertina wire and ER every illegal! No airconditioning, no showers, just a bunch of pit toilets. Build as many camps as necessary. Feed them expired MRE's. Hire 100 special ER judges and process 10's of thousands per day. Have national guard troops patrol the perimeter for security. Use dogs and tear gas to resolve any problems. Problem solved in a month.
Then start rounding up all illegals already settled in, send them to our new vacation camps in the desert. Make them more miserable than they were at home and they will not come back. Almost forget, prosecute anyone whom hires an illegal, and raise the fines to the point that anyone violating a couple of times is driven into bankruptcy. Maybe then we consider a guest worker visa, but never to anyone who was caught here illegally.
Approximately a year and a half ago, Mexico entered into a visa waver program with Brazil which allowed their citizens to enter Mexico as a visitor without obtaining a visa form the Mexican Consulate. Needless to say and quite predictably the flood gates opened.
Fox is not stupid, creating a crisis increases his leverage with Bush on all sorts of issues. It’s a play straight out of Castro’s book.
ping
Did you by any chance hear reports that say a major part of the impetus is this popular soap in Brazil that portrays the States as the land of milk and honey?
Brazilians are largest group of illegals behind Mexicans.
Mexicans get VR'ed and driven back to Mexico. The hope is by targeting the next largest group of illegals with ER's, they will stop them from coming.
I have not heard of that, but if we were being inundated with female Brazilian soap stars I doubt many would be complaining. LOL
One Brazilian soap thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1470502/posts
"Any adult undocumented immigrants, aside from Mexicans and Canadians, who are caught within 100 miles of the southern or northern borders, have not been in America for more than two weeks and show no signs of mental illness are eligible for expedited removal."
Why not Mexicans or Canadians?
Watch some lib lawyer file a lawsuit calling this discrimination, trying to stop ANYONE from being detained.
Our entire government is a bunch of treasonous fools. They have opened up America to the world, and demanded the citizens foot the bill.
This article could have been printed in The Onion.
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
They don't speak Spanish.
I stay in Port Isabel for a couple of months every year, a ton of Brazilians and Columbians.
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