Thread: Making a security point with elephants

Web Posted: 10/12/2006 12:05 AM CDT

Jesse Bogan
Rio Grande Valley Bureau

McALLEN — After his first trip to South Texas, a Pennsylvania congressional candidate was back home Wednesday sharing quite a tale, having chased an undocumented immigrant on foot one day and strolled the bank of the Rio Grande with three elephants and a blaring mariachi band the next.

All, of course, documented for a campaign commercial.

Border security is a major issue in my district and I wanted to see firsthand the situation and I came away utterly shocked at the state of insecurity that our border is in," said Raj Peter Bhakta, 30, a Philadelphia Republican whose previous claim to fame was being fired from the reality TV show "The Apprentice."

Bhakta, a first-generation American citizen, said he was in Brownsville on Monday and Tuesday with the idea of demonstrating a porous border by videoing himself with elephants near a desolate area of the Rio Grande. But he said he upped the ante with a six-member mariachi band after witnessing an undocumented immigrant swim across the river under an international bridge.

Bhakta said he chased the immigrant with a camera in tow. Even though authorities apprehended the immigrant, he said he was "utterly shocked" that someone could cross so easily.

"I thought to myself, 'Well, if this guy can come right across under the nose of the immigration post, I bet I can get an elephant across, I bet I could get an elephant across with a mariachi band strutting away, welcoming my arrival to America,'" he said.

"The elephants went into the water, and the band played and we made as much of a racket and scene that I could have imagined — nobody showed up," he said, adding, "people may think I am making a joke of border security and the political system that we have, and the truth is that it is a joke."

Border Patrol authorities discredited Bhakta's endeavors since he, the elephants and the musicians didn't actually cross the border illegally. Protocol was followed because the elephants ultimately were quarantined at a checkpoint and dipped for fever ticks, said Edinburg-based spokesman Roy Cervantes.

"To our knowledge there is no problem with bringing three elephants and a mariachi band to a private ranch along the border," Cervantes said. "This is probably his first time in the Rio Grande Valley and it's apparent that he has no idea what work the Border Patrol does on the southern border."

He said the sector apprehended 110,512 undocumented immigrants from more than 50 countries in fiscal year 2006.

"Our numbers speak for themselves," Cervantes said. "We are doing a good job of protecting the border and we believe the citizens of the United States know it and support the mission that we do."

The elephants, contracted from a circus company, have reportedly been returned to their owners.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/ ... 0c41b.html

He said the sector apprehended 110,512 undocumented immigrants from more than 50 countries in fiscal year 2006

Mexico is just one giant illegal Ellis Island. How many of those countries were terrorist hang-outs??

Is there a video of this available? It would be great publicity for our side if it was available on line.

Here's the video - it's a stitch! I hope he wins!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAcIGx-nxdI&eurl=

Both the interview with Rita Cosby and the complete border video are available on Raj Bhaka's website, http://www.rajforcongress.com/