Immigrants face hurricane dilemma - Border Patrol Deporting those seeking shelter
/By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY
CAMERON PARK, Texas — Jose Pacheco feels he may face a tough choice if a hurricane heads toward this community in southeast Texas: stay and face the storm's fury or evacuate and risk losing his wife.
The possibility that U.S. Border Patrol agents may check the immigration status of hurricane evacuees recently sent shockwaves through this colonia, or unincorporated neighborhood, outside Brownsville, Texas, just across the Rio Grande from Mexico.
Residents here and along the Texas coast have become accustomed to hurricane evacuations. As more places increase enforcement of immigration laws, residents such as Pacheco say they would rather risk harm from a storm, than risk deportation from the USA.
"I don't want my wife taken away from me," said Pacheco, 37, a legal U.S. resident from Mexico, who works for a cable company. His wife, who he asked not be named, is not a legal resident. "What choice do I have?" he said. "I'll stay."
Border Patrol agents are becoming increasingly involved in emergency evacuations. They will be present during evacuations as backup law enforcement officers to assist local and state officials. Agents interviewed evacuees from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and also during last year's California wildfires, leading to some deportation hearings, a practice not seen in decades, said Cecilia Muñoz, of the National Council of La Raza a Washington-based Hispanic advocacy group. Checking the legal status of evacuees dissuades residents from leaving dangerous areas, Muñoz said. Border Patrol officials said this year they would detain and deport hurricane evacuees who have entered this country illegally but later recanted and said they would be flexible during emergencies. Safety is paramount in emergency situations, said Lloyd Easterling, an assistant chief with the U.S. Border Patrol. "We are not going to stand in the way of people getting to safety," he said. "We'll worry about the legal aspects later."
Mock evacuation scares some
Concerns about border checks rose recently after Border Patrol agents were seen checking identification of evacuees before they got on school buses during a mock evacuation exercise in nearby McAllen.
"By doing this, they are undercutting the people's confidence in getting them to safety," Muñoz said.
John Cavazos, Cameron County's emergency management coordinator, said he is responsible for the safety of 127,500 "special needs" evacuees — those too poor or too sick to drive out themselves — in three counties. Following the mock evacuation in McAllen, thousands of them may refuse to go, he said. He is now building a plan for those who may stay behind.
A major storm has not hit this area in more than a decade, Cavazos said. But its proximity to the coast makes it vulnerable to hurricanes, he said. The four-county Rio Grande Valley has one of the highest mix of hurricane-vulnerable cities and immigrant communities in the USA, he said.
If residents don't leave, it will create an emergency-management nightmare, he said.
"This could potentially turn into a mass search-and-rescue from the local government," Cavazos said. "I don't have a lot of time to make those kinds of plans."
Over the past year, Cavazos said he has noticed U.S. border officials becoming more involved with evacuation planning, often sitting in on local Homeland Security council meetings. He said border officials have assured him they won't be checking papers during evacuations, but he has requested that in writing.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, in a statement, said agents wouldn't slow evacuations but did not say whether documents would be checked.
"Instructions to the Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection are clear. They are to do nothing to impede a safe and speedy evacuation of a danger zone," he said last month. "Now, obviously the laws don't get suspended, but … our priorities are to make sure we can move traffic along quickly."
Losing 'the public's trust'
Border agents have noticeably brought down crime in the region but risk losing the residents' confidence if they get too involved in evacuations, Cavazos said. "We've already lost a lot of the public's trust," he said.
Border agents need to be vigilant during emergencies to prevent drug smugglers and other criminals from slipping through, Easterling said, adding that agents will be more flexible in their enforcement. For example, permanent checkpoints on the two main highways leading from the Rio Grande Valley's Mexican border into Texas will not be manned during an evacuation, he said.
"We're not going to completely disregard what our mission is," he said. "But we will tweak what we're doing during an evacuation."
The assurances offer little encouragement to the residents of Cameron Park, a shanty neighborhood of around 7,000 predominately poor and Hispanic residents.
The majority of residents here have legal status, said Michael Seifert, a community activist. Many families also house recently arrived relatives from Mexico, who may be waiting on their papers, he said. Despite his urging, many residents have voiced concerns about evacuating, Seifert said.
"There are going to be families who won't go. They're not going to risk getting deported," he said.
Lupita Sanchez, 38, a legal resident and healthcare worker in Cameron Park, said her family faced a similar dilemma when considering evacuating last year for Hurricane Dean. Sanchez said her sister, Nina Martinez, had applied for residency. Sanchez wanted to go to San Antonio. Martinez did not. At the last minute, Dean took a sharp westerly turn toward Mexico.
"Our culture insists that we don't leave family behind," Sanchez said. "A lot of people here will stay to keep their family together."
CAMERON PARK, Texas — Jose Pacheco feels he may face a tough choice if a hurricane heads toward this community in southeast Texas: stay and face the storm's fury or evacuate and risk losing his wife.
The possibility that U.S. Border Patrol agents may check the immigration status of hurricane evacuees recently sent shockwaves through this colonia, or unincorporated neighborhood, outside Brownsville, Texas, just across the Rio Grande from Mexico.
Residents here and along the Texas coast have become accustomed to hurricane evacuations. As more places increase enforcement of immigration laws, residents such as Pacheco say they would rather risk harm from a storm, than risk deportation from the USA.
"I don't want my wife taken away from me," said Pacheco, 37, a legal U.S. resident from Mexico, who works for a cable company. His wife, who he asked not be named, is not a legal resident. "What choice do I have?" he said. "I'll stay."
Border Patrol agents are becoming increasingly involved in emergency evacuations. They will be present during evacuations as backup law enforcement officers to assist local and state officials. Agents interviewed evacuees from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and also during last year's California wildfires, leading to some deportation hearings, a practice not seen in decades, said Cecilia Muñoz, of the National Council of La Raza a Washington-based Hispanic advocacy group. Checking the legal status of evacuees dissuades residents from leaving dangerous areas, Muñoz said. Border Patrol officials said this year they would detain and deport hurricane evacuees who have entered this country illegally but later recanted and said they would be flexible during emergencies. Safety is paramount in emergency situations, said Lloyd Easterling, an assistant chief with the U.S. Border Patrol. "We are not going to stand in the way of people getting to safety," he said. "We'll worry about the legal aspects later."
Mock evacuation scares some
Concerns about border checks rose recently after Border Patrol agents were seen checking identification of evacuees before they got on school buses during a mock evacuation exercise in nearby McAllen.
"By doing this, they are undercutting the people's confidence in getting them to safety," Muñoz said.
John Cavazos, Cameron County's emergency management coordinator, said he is responsible for the safety of 127,500 "special needs" evacuees — those too poor or too sick to drive out themselves — in three counties. Following the mock evacuation in McAllen, thousands of them may refuse to go, he said. He is now building a plan for those who may stay behind.
A major storm has not hit this area in more than a decade, Cavazos said. But its proximity to the coast makes it vulnerable to hurricanes, he said. The four-county Rio Grande Valley has one of the highest mix of hurricane-vulnerable cities and immigrant communities in the USA, he said.
If residents don't leave, it will create an emergency-management nightmare, he said.
"This could potentially turn into a mass search-and-rescue from the local government," Cavazos said. "I don't have a lot of time to make those kinds of plans."
Over the past year, Cavazos said he has noticed U.S. border officials becoming more involved with evacuation planning, often sitting in on local Homeland Security council meetings. He said border officials have assured him they won't be checking papers during evacuations, but he has requested that in writing.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, in a statement, said agents wouldn't slow evacuations but did not say whether documents would be checked.
"Instructions to the Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection are clear. They are to do nothing to impede a safe and speedy evacuation of a danger zone," he said last month. "Now, obviously the laws don't get suspended, but … our priorities are to make sure we can move traffic along quickly."
Losing 'the public's trust'
Border agents have noticeably brought down crime in the region but risk losing the residents' confidence if they get too involved in evacuations, Cavazos said. "We've already lost a lot of the public's trust," he said.
Border agents need to be vigilant during emergencies to prevent drug smugglers and other criminals from slipping through, Easterling said, adding that agents will be more flexible in their enforcement. For example, permanent checkpoints on the two main highways leading from the Rio Grande Valley's Mexican border into Texas will not be manned during an evacuation, he said.
"We're not going to completely disregard what our mission is," he said. "But we will tweak what we're doing during an evacuation."
The assurances offer little encouragement to the residents of Cameron Park, a shanty neighborhood of around 7,000 predominately poor and Hispanic residents.
The majority of residents here have legal status, said Michael Seifert, a community activist. Many families also house recently arrived relatives from Mexico, who may be waiting on their papers, he said. Despite his urging, many residents have voiced concerns about evacuating, Seifert said.
"There are going to be families who won't go. They're not going to risk getting deported," he said.
Lupita Sanchez, 38, a legal resident and healthcare worker in Cameron Park, said her family faced a similar dilemma when considering evacuating last year for Hurricane Dean. Sanchez said her sister, Nina Martinez, had applied for residency. Sanchez wanted to go to San Antonio. Martinez did not. At the last minute, Dean took a sharp westerly turn toward Mexico.
"Our culture insists that we don't leave family behind," Sanchez said. "A lot of people here will stay to keep their family together."
