Thread: N.M. residents tell congressmen about illegal immigration

Yup. Studies done have already shown that minority black and hispanic's vote based on race over policy. Many studies including ones done by minority groups agree on that.

Congressional delegation visits Columbus
(3:40 a.m.)By Kevin Buey / For the Sun-News
Posted: 02/02/2011 03:40:04 AM MST


COLUMBUS -- A vast majority of those attending a meeting Tuesday in Columbus with four U.S. Congressmen believe the number of illegal immigrants entering Luna County from Mexico is rising.

The same people -- by a show of hands -- believe there are more drugs passing through Luna County from the southern border.

Reps. Steve Pearce, R-N.M.; Phil Gingrey, R-Ga.; Steve King, R-Iowa; and Ed Royce, R-Calif., met with more than 100 people at a noon meeting at the Andrew Sanchez Community Center.

"I wanted the congressional delegation to see some of the problems," Pearce said of problems on state's southern border, "to see them and listen."

None of the other members had previously been to the state's border.

The U.S. Border Patrol disputes the belief that there are more illegals, saying it has control of the sector -- all New Mexico and West Texas.

Deming Agent in-Charge Daniel Serrato said Tuesday afternoon the station had a 30- to 40-percent drop in apprehensions over this period last year. Narcotics seizures rose about the same amount, he said, noting those figures change rapidly with just one seizure. For example, he said, there was a 400-pound marijuana load recovered within the week, though the people carrying it ran back to Mexico as Border Patrol agents approached.

From 1993 to now, said USBP Spokesman Doug Mosier, the apprehension rate has dropped 96 percent in El Paso. Operation Over the Line began in 1993, Mosier said, and involves the same action as today, but there are more agents now, with better tools and equipment.

The were 600 agents in the sector in 1993, and there are 2,700 today.

Deming's Duke Maxwell McGuire drew no vocal response from representatives when he suggested a Kill Zone, with ammunition handed to Border Patrol Agents and National Guard members, to combat illegal immigration and drug trafficking on the border.

Other issues brought to the delegation included the location of a Border Patrol Forward Operating Base in the Lordsburg Station area. The USBP prefers a location 19.8 miles north of the border. Some area residents, Animas' Meira Gault among them, prefer a site 7 miles from the border.

The USBP says the site it prefers will allow agents to reach the border within 20 minutes. It is now about 90 minutes from the Lordsburg station.

The Horse Camp site that Gault and others prefer has been raised at other meetings, including a Border Security Task Force Meeting last October.

"We don't even know who to ask about it," Pearce said of that issue.

Questions were also raised about border fences, continued funding and emergency medical treatment given to Mexican residents who present themselves at the border, particularly for pregnant women who subsequently give birth in Deming.

The (medical) cost is enormous," agreed Gingrey, an OB/GYN doctor. "I was not aware they could come across the border without documentation and add to the Anchor Baby problem."

The representatives called for oversight in the country to enforcing laws already passed instead of allowing business as usual.

Gingrey decried the Dream Act, as well as allowing a foreigner to serve in the U.S. military for two years as a quick path to citizenship.

Another show of hands showed the majority thought guest workers would be less of a problem if they were in the country legally, paying taxes and not draining social programs.

"We're saying let's secure the border," Pearce said. "I think we can secure the border. I believe everybody wants to secure the border."

To those whose questions were unanswered or not fully answered Tuesday, Pearce promised that responses would be forthcoming.

"All four of us," Gingrey said, "have the same questions.'"

http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_17264649