By HEATHER CATHLEEN COX
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com
In an exclusive interview with the San Benito News to discuss safety along the American-Mexican borders, United States Congressman Filemon Vela (D-Texas, 34) expressed significant developments in potential immigration reform and proposed amendments to longstanding federal policies.
Vela, who has met with federal officials in Washington several times the past few weeks specifically to discuss the refugee crisis, said, “At the end of the day, there is one common thread (among refugees), and that is the involvement of cartels, the drug trade in Central America and Mexico. The cartels are involved in the business of taking money from these (refugees) to take them over the border, and then everywhere in America. One-thousand cities in America have been found to have a cartel present.”
President Barack Obama has submitted a $3.7 billion emergency supplemental funding request to Congress which is reportedly focused on: increased detainment and removal of adults with children; increased immigration court capacity to speed cases; enhanced interdiction and prosecution of criminal networks; foreign cooperation; public information campaigns; efforts to address the root causes of migration; and increased detainment, care and transportation of unaccompanied minors.
At least 60,000 unaccompanied minors have been processed this fiscal cycle; the number is expected to exceed 90,000 by end of the year, Congressman Vela said.
Candidly, Congressmen Vela expressed, “It’s like I tell people here in Washington. This is not just a border crisis. Eighty-five percent of these unaccompanied minors are coming over to be reunited with parents and grandparents (who are actively working) in the labor force all around this country. According to officials at (Customs and Border Protection) I have spoken to, hardly any of these children are coming over so they can stay in the Valley. They are moving to every state in the country.”
Government agencies, nonprofits and religious organizations that have stepped up with funding and shelter for these undocumented children and families are experiencing crippling financial hardship. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Health and Human Services have had to ramp up operations, from a facility, equipment and operational standpoint. These agencies have been using their existing budget. “Secretary of Homeland Security (Jeh) Johnson said that they are under strain and will run out of money soon,” Vela informed.
On July 16, Congressmen Vela and Rubén Hinojosa (D-Texas, 15) met with President Obama in Washington. Vela said, “We analyzed the President’s budget request, and one of the things we asked him to do is to reimburse municipal and county government (for some of) the expense of the border crises. Over the next few weeks, Congress will be going through the appropriation process, and we’re hoping to get some amendments in there that will help municipal and county governments and nonprofits.”
Long-term, U.S. government officials will have to decide whether to send children to their families and whether a legalization process will be adopted to allow them to remain in the country. “Do we want to reunite these children with families? Do we want to develop a legalization process so they can stay here and continue in labor force?” Vela asked. “I would say yes.”
On Wednesday, July 23, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif., 12) hosted a meeting to discuss the recent deployment of National Guard troops to South Texas. Among those in attendance were: Congressmen Vela and Hinojosa; Congressmen Xavier Becerra (D-Calif., 34), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas, 20), Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas, 16), Marc Veasey (D-Texas, 33); South Texas elected officials; and representatives of faith-based organizations.
Representatives from Hinojosa’s camp said, “Importantly, none of the meeting participants expressed any support for reducing the due process rights of immigrant children, modifying the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, or deploying National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.”
During Wednesday’s meeting, participants reportedly “agreed that the funds requested by the President are desperately needed to deal with unaccompanied children entering through the Rio Grande Valley,” said representatives from Hinojosa’s camp.
“As (Wednesday’s) meeting made clear,” said Vela, “many South Texans do not support the HUMANE Act’s expedited removal process or deployment of the National Guard to the Rio Grande Valley. A better approach is to: (1) provide the needed resources to address cartel activity in Central America, Mexico and across the U.S.; (2) support Customs and Border Protection by providing the necessary funding to increase the number of agents and support personnel; and (3) provide funding to the immigration court system to allow for speedier determinations pursuant to current law while protecting due process requirements of the U.S. Constitution.”
“It begins in the immigrant’s home country with socioeconomic conditions…Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico have to deal with it. It’s a journey they have to make,” Vela said. Most of the kids and families crossing through the Valley are in custody for 72 hours. Then, most are transferred elsewhere, Vela added. “For family units, they (are sent to) Nogales, Arizona and El Paso (Texas). Unaccompanied minors are being sent to San Antonio, Texas and Ventura, California.”
But not all immigrants are making the journey alive. Dead bodies have surfaced in Texas and Arizona; to date, a reported 43 dead bodies have been found near a 13,000-acre ranch in Brooks County, Texas, managed by Lavoyger Durham. That number continues to climb. About 445 immigrants died along the U.S.-Mexico border last year, according to CBP statistics.
“This is a crisis all the way around,” said Vela. “I am asked many times: ‘Is the border secure?’ It is a very difficult question to answer. If by border security, someone means ‘Is the (Mexican) state of Tamaulipas secure?’—it’s not. However, the Valley is one heck of a lot safer than (areas such as) Detroit or New Orleans. If you take a look at crime statistics you’ll see.”
The issue of relief funds remains sensitive and timely. As the death toll rises and undocumented aliens continue to pour into the United Sates, the federal government feels the heat of impending decisions. “We have to approach decision-making very carefully,” said Vela. “There is a lot of frenzy…. The legislative amendment process is now in hands of legislature.”
1 comments
Humanitarian crisis indeed. Immigration is a God given right to humanity. Human’s out of necessity have been practicing this wright from the being of time. It’s the illegality of it that been causing the problem. The issue of our politicians of not being able to reach a means of makeing immigration to the U.S by legal means in this era of globalization is just mind boggling. These are children with mom’s and some children crossing alone with no family by there side. Some poor souls even loosing their lives by exhaustion, thirst ,and hunger.