Reading the news tonight about another Mexican Mayor's assassination and the fact that his 4-year old daughter was also shot was the start of the bad news day. Four devices exploded separately in Tamaulipas in just 24 hours , injuring at least 17 people.The top prosecutor in Mexico is reported to be missing. "Where will it all end?" popped into my mind.
It does not matter. Our work with the poor will not end. What began as a cop giving away a few sacks of food evolved into a sacred trust. God entrusted the poor in these colonias to us and many of us accepted that trust. We till treat the violence in the same way that we treat bad weather or the death of a little child. It is all sad and disturbing, but we will continue.Will the violence in Mexico end? Yes. Will our commitment to the poor in the colonias end? No, not really. Our work with these people makes us better people and we will continue to be worthy of their example of faith, hope and hard work.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Many Have Given Up in Acuna
Several recent news articles about the impact of the cartels on local businesses included two that mentioned the tourist area of Acuna. While I am glad that someone is writing about the impact on Acuna business owners, I remain disappointed that nobody writes a word about the impact on the average worker.
Many of the waiters, waitresses, busboys, dishwashers and many of the sales-people have been without work for so long that they've abandoned Acuna and returned to their former homes. "We can grow some vegetables and get some help from our family." explained one man as he packed the family belongings. He continued, "The saddest thing is that our children will not receive the kind of education that they can receive in Acuna. Our town is very small and the school does not have very much. We saw a better life for our children in Acuna. Now we must go home. I have to feed my family and I can no longer feed them in Acuna."
As I walk the dirt streets I see another abandoned home. This was the home of Javier, a little boy with an eye disease. I speak with the neighbors and learn that his mother, sister and extended family all returned to their former home 'on the other side of Monterrey'. The ophthalmologist was preparing to operate on Javier in the hope of restoring some sight in his right eye. I don't know what will become of him now.
So many of these people traveled hundreds of miles to reach Acuna in search of work. They were not crossing into the United States illegally. They were working hard to succeed in Mexico. Hundreds of these people began their lives in Acuna by building a cardboard shack. They worked hard and many built or began to build cinder-block houses. Families with a weekly income of $60 sacrificed to purchase $70 of school supplies and another $70 of school uniforms for each child - so the children would have a good education. Many of these children ran to show me their report cards! They were so proud! Many received 'straight 10's and 9's' on their report cards. (The highest grade on a report card is a 10. The lowest is a zero. Nothing is curved and the children receive what they earn. None seem stigmatized and would never expect a teacher to 'only put a '4' on the report card to save someone's feelings).
After all of the sacrifice and hard work they return home with nothing.
The drug cartels destroyed the tourist economy in Acuna. The U.S. news media helped the cartels by exaggerating the violence and by often calling murders hundreds of miles from the border - "Border Violence".
Many of the waiters, waitresses, busboys, dishwashers and many of the sales-people have been without work for so long that they've abandoned Acuna and returned to their former homes. "We can grow some vegetables and get some help from our family." explained one man as he packed the family belongings. He continued, "The saddest thing is that our children will not receive the kind of education that they can receive in Acuna. Our town is very small and the school does not have very much. We saw a better life for our children in Acuna. Now we must go home. I have to feed my family and I can no longer feed them in Acuna."
As I walk the dirt streets I see another abandoned home. This was the home of Javier, a little boy with an eye disease. I speak with the neighbors and learn that his mother, sister and extended family all returned to their former home 'on the other side of Monterrey'. The ophthalmologist was preparing to operate on Javier in the hope of restoring some sight in his right eye. I don't know what will become of him now.
So many of these people traveled hundreds of miles to reach Acuna in search of work. They were not crossing into the United States illegally. They were working hard to succeed in Mexico. Hundreds of these people began their lives in Acuna by building a cardboard shack. They worked hard and many built or began to build cinder-block houses. Families with a weekly income of $60 sacrificed to purchase $70 of school supplies and another $70 of school uniforms for each child - so the children would have a good education. Many of these children ran to show me their report cards! They were so proud! Many received 'straight 10's and 9's' on their report cards. (The highest grade on a report card is a 10. The lowest is a zero. Nothing is curved and the children receive what they earn. None seem stigmatized and would never expect a teacher to 'only put a '4' on the report card to save someone's feelings).
After all of the sacrifice and hard work they return home with nothing.
The drug cartels destroyed the tourist economy in Acuna. The U.S. news media helped the cartels by exaggerating the violence and by often calling murders hundreds of miles from the border - "Border Violence".
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Careful What You Blog For
Let us deal with facts and not fantasy. When ICE receives 5,000 requests from police agencies across the nation to pick up and deport suspected illegal aliens and they only have suffieicent staff to pick up 2,000 of these cases - do you really want evey case treated equally? Do you want ICE to process the first 2,000 requests, regardless of the fact that request number 2001 is to pick up a convicted drug dealer or murderer?
I know: you want enough ICE personnel to pick up every single person accused of being in the country illegally. Even the 67 year old lady who is from England and overstayed her visa by 2-days needs to be deported. Right. Well, a police officer on every corner would also be nice. So would radar cameras on every street so that everyone driving even 1-mile over the limit would pay. (Thing of the huge reduction of accidents, injuries and death!)
In the real world, we want freedom and we don't want every technical violation to result in an arrest or even a fine. In the real world there are not enough ICE agents to arrest every person in violation of immigration rules.
Only a few years ago the official policy of the Border Patrol was to deport Mexicans and to issue citations to illegals that were not from Mexico. (See: you should educate yourself about the facts). The policy was known as OTM (other than Mexican). Radio stations in Latin America acutally told listeners that if they are 'going north' and stopped by the Border Patrol to declare that they are from any country except Mexico and that they will only be issued a ticket that orders them to appear before a judge.
Many listeners telephoned the radio station because they were certain this was a joke. However, once in the United States the listeners found that the joke got even funnier. The citation process included being detained while a computer check was made to make certain that they were not on a watch list, wanted or from a country that was on a watch list (i.e. Iran). This was a bit inconvenient but here is the punch-line. Once issed a citation and set free, the citation served as a sort of protection from other federal agents. If they were ever stopped again, the immigrants learned that they could hand the agent their previous citation and the agent would immediately let them go about their business and not detain them for another background check.
How does such a ridiculous policy get in place? Constant reports from the media, blogs, etc. pushed the agency to do something about 'all these Mexicans' and there are simply not enouth resources to process everyone in the United States without the proper papers.
Today, the cry is to round them all up. So while we spend limited resources to process the little old lady from England who overstayed her visa, we do not focus on the drug dealers because we only have a certain number of agents.
In fact, the screaming about 'more arrests' led to the policy of checking immigration status of people leaving the United States. This is purly a numbers game that is forced on the officers at the border. They would prefer focusing on dope dealers coming into the country, but instead they question Mexicans leaving the United States.
I see this at several U.S. Border Crossings into Mexico. A man is walking across the International Bridge and is stopped by the four ICE Officers working this check-point. He is patted down and asked about his citizenship. The man explains he is going back to Mexico and was in the United States without papers, looking for work. He is arrested, processed and then volunteers to return home. A complete waste of time and a waste of the limited resources and the sole purpose is to increase the number of illegal aliens being arrested.
While this nonsense is going on, the overworked and understaffed officers assigned to check people entering the United States can't possible search as many vehicles as they could with the staff that is required to waste their time checking immigration status of those leaving the U.S.
A valid reason to stop people leaving the United States and returning to Mexico is to stem the flow of illegal cash and weapons that are shipped to Mexico for the cartels. This effort I applaud, even as my own vehicle is searched. However, this would not require the arrest of every illegal immigrant that is simply leaving. I would really prefer that the ICE report their arrest statistics with a breakdown that shows the number of felons, people in direct possession of narcotics, people and organizations smuggling people, and the number of people leaving the United States. Perhaps we the people would then demand a proper use of resources.
Instead, in response to the public outcry, we just grab whatever we can and pretend we are all safer.
I know: you want enough ICE personnel to pick up every single person accused of being in the country illegally. Even the 67 year old lady who is from England and overstayed her visa by 2-days needs to be deported. Right. Well, a police officer on every corner would also be nice. So would radar cameras on every street so that everyone driving even 1-mile over the limit would pay. (Thing of the huge reduction of accidents, injuries and death!)
In the real world, we want freedom and we don't want every technical violation to result in an arrest or even a fine. In the real world there are not enough ICE agents to arrest every person in violation of immigration rules.
Only a few years ago the official policy of the Border Patrol was to deport Mexicans and to issue citations to illegals that were not from Mexico. (See: you should educate yourself about the facts). The policy was known as OTM (other than Mexican). Radio stations in Latin America acutally told listeners that if they are 'going north' and stopped by the Border Patrol to declare that they are from any country except Mexico and that they will only be issued a ticket that orders them to appear before a judge.
Many listeners telephoned the radio station because they were certain this was a joke. However, once in the United States the listeners found that the joke got even funnier. The citation process included being detained while a computer check was made to make certain that they were not on a watch list, wanted or from a country that was on a watch list (i.e. Iran). This was a bit inconvenient but here is the punch-line. Once issed a citation and set free, the citation served as a sort of protection from other federal agents. If they were ever stopped again, the immigrants learned that they could hand the agent their previous citation and the agent would immediately let them go about their business and not detain them for another background check.
How does such a ridiculous policy get in place? Constant reports from the media, blogs, etc. pushed the agency to do something about 'all these Mexicans' and there are simply not enouth resources to process everyone in the United States without the proper papers.
Today, the cry is to round them all up. So while we spend limited resources to process the little old lady from England who overstayed her visa, we do not focus on the drug dealers because we only have a certain number of agents.
In fact, the screaming about 'more arrests' led to the policy of checking immigration status of people leaving the United States. This is purly a numbers game that is forced on the officers at the border. They would prefer focusing on dope dealers coming into the country, but instead they question Mexicans leaving the United States.
I see this at several U.S. Border Crossings into Mexico. A man is walking across the International Bridge and is stopped by the four ICE Officers working this check-point. He is patted down and asked about his citizenship. The man explains he is going back to Mexico and was in the United States without papers, looking for work. He is arrested, processed and then volunteers to return home. A complete waste of time and a waste of the limited resources and the sole purpose is to increase the number of illegal aliens being arrested.
While this nonsense is going on, the overworked and understaffed officers assigned to check people entering the United States can't possible search as many vehicles as they could with the staff that is required to waste their time checking immigration status of those leaving the U.S.
A valid reason to stop people leaving the United States and returning to Mexico is to stem the flow of illegal cash and weapons that are shipped to Mexico for the cartels. This effort I applaud, even as my own vehicle is searched. However, this would not require the arrest of every illegal immigrant that is simply leaving. I would really prefer that the ICE report their arrest statistics with a breakdown that shows the number of felons, people in direct possession of narcotics, people and organizations smuggling people, and the number of people leaving the United States. Perhaps we the people would then demand a proper use of resources.
Instead, in response to the public outcry, we just grab whatever we can and pretend we are all safer.
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