Thread: 'Yup,' it's easy to cross U.S. border

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=474394

'Yup,' it's easy to cross U.S. border
Posted: July 22, 2006

Laurel Walker

There's a lot to disagree about in this illegal immigration debate, but even polar opposites - those for punishment vs. a pathway to citizenship - might agree on one thing: Border security is a place to start.

Convincing evidence comes from long-time Waukesha resident Henry E. Rivera, a third-generation Texas native of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent who's worked 33 years at the same Waukesha factory and who's raised a family in the city. He can't believe what happened on his July 4 trip to the Mexican-U.S. border.

It's a sieve, as he sees it, even when you come face to face with U.S. Border Patrol.

In his case, all they did - twice - on his re-entry to the United States was ask if he was an American citizen.

Both times, his only proof was a one-word answer: "Yup."

"They didn't check nothing,' " he said. "That just burns me up."

They didn't ask for his driver's license. They didn't look in his rental car. They didn't even question his Hispanic passenger, a Texan.

"Here we're sending National Guard troops down there. For what? That upsets me."

Rivera, 59, headed to Texas over the Independence Day holiday to visit a friend and to hunt down a long-lost buddy from his Navy days. Trouble is, the guy's name was Garcia. There were telephone book pages full of them in Del Rio, Texas, the man's hometown.

"We couldn't find him," Rivera said. So he and his friend decided to cross the border to Ciuda Acuna in Mexico for some shopping. As they came back a couple hours later, he said the border guard simply turned around, said, "American citizen?" and waved them on when Rivera gave him that "yup."

Maybe 50 miles further along the same road, the same thing happened at a Texas checkpoint.

"I felt like getting out of my car and saying, 'Is this all you guys can do?' "

Nope. He just said "yup."

For all the focus on the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants and the security threats from abroad, I, like Rivera, would expect to see at least some kind of scrutiny from our border protectors.

Not all crossings are equal, apparently. And that doesn't even count the sneaky ones. Some guards may check every car, every piece of luggage, every document. Some do so only randomly. Some, I guess, are satisfied with a "yup."

I suppose it would be too brazen for someone to haul a couple of illegal visitors by trunk through a manned border crossing, or even more so if the driver is the one planning a long, undocumented stay. Maybe that's the logic that border guards count on.

But maybe, Rivera's beginning to think, that's exactly how it happens sometimes.

Though Rivera's name and lineage says Hispanic, he has little sympathy for those crossing illegally - especially those who bring drugs or other criminal habits to his country. "They're not my people. Let's get that straight. I'm American through and through."

Our leaders haven't yet figured out how to solve the immigration problem, and those who think they have can't get it adopted. Nor does Rivera, though opinionated, have all the answers.

A border fence doesn't stop the "gophers" who can just tunnel through, he says. And though he'd gladly send the bad apples and criminals home, he doesn't think you can just send 11 million people home - many of whom are hard-working, have been here for decades and have children as American as can be.

But something could be done, he's convinced. More discipline, more questions, more skepticism at the border would be appreciated.

Call Laurel Walker at (262) 650-3183 or e-mail lwalker@journalsentinel.com

I may need blood pressure medicine if I read many more stories like these. Amazing that after Sept 11 we have agents practically waving people through. We can thank our president for this, he is at the root of our porous borders.