Thread: TX: Border Patrol won't stop motorists in Sarita

Huricane Dolly is about to hit Brownsville Texas



July 22, 2008 - 9:28PM
Fernando Del Valle
Valley Morning Star

RAYMONDVILLE -- Preparations for Tropical Storm Dolly include plans by the federal government for thousands of illegal immigrants in custody at the detention center.

But U.S. Border Patrol agents at the Sarita checkpoint will not stop motorists evacuating from a hurricane, an official said Monday.

"We're not going to be stopping people and asking where they're from," said Lloyd Easterling, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in Washington, D.C. "We don't want to slow the evacuation process. Life is paramount at this point."

Forecasters projected Tropical Storm Dolly would strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane by the time it makes landfall Wednesday morning somewhere along the South Texas coast.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have a "contingency plan" to evacuate detainees from the 3,000-bed detention center of tent-like domes, in Raymondville, officials said.

"The government carefully monitors wind speed and, if they have to, they are capable of moving inmates. That's a last resort," said Carl Stuart, spokesman for Management and Training Corp., the company that operates the detention center for the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Stuart said he did not have information available to determine whether the domes could withstand hurricane winds.

But developers said in 2006, when the detention center opened, that the domes were built to withstand "hurricane force winds."

Stuart said security concerns prevented him from disclosing the conditions under which officials would order an evacuation of detainees.

Officials would transport detainees to other detention centers in Texas, said Nina Pruneda, a spokeswoman for ICE in San Antonio.

Rio Grande Valley residents who plan to evacuate could travel on Expressway 77 as far north as State Highway 186.

At that point, authorities would detour traffic from the expressway to west SH 186 in Raymondville, said Amy Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Transportation in Pharr.

But authorities would not use roadblocks to physically shut down Expressway 77 because hurricane winds could turn the barriers into debris, she said.

In Raymondville, city officials in this low-lying area began distributing sandbags at 9 a.m. Monday, said Mary de la Garza, a clerk at City Hall.

Residents can pick up sandbags at City Hall, where officials are limiting six bags per person, she said.

http://www.themonitor.com/news/official ... ntion.html

Meeting with CBP clarifies role of agents during evacuations

June 25, 2008 - 11:18PM
By Laura B. Martinez, The Brownsville Herald

U.S. Custom and Border Protection agents will only help Cameron County emergency management officials during hurricane evacuations in the capacity they are needed, County Judge Carlos H. Cascos said Wednesday.

Cascos met one-on-one with Ronald D.Vitiello, sector chief for the Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol, earlier this week. At the meeting, they discussed how the federal agency will handle immigration checks at hurricane evacuation hubs.

Vitiello "assured" the judge that CBP would be at the hubs only to help with "quick and efficient" evacuations, Cascos said.

"Their (CBP) primary focus is not going be in asking for documentation or trying to assess someone's legal residency," Cascos said. "However, I think if something glares out at them I think they have to do what they need to do, but their primary focus is going to be to assist local law enforcement in any capacity."

Johnny Cavazos, the county's emergency management coordinator, also attended the meeting.

Cascos requested the meeting in response to reports that CBP agents would check the immigration status of evacuees at checkpoints and hubs. County officials said this would only slow the evacuation process.

"I have a very good open line of communications with Chief Vitiello... I trust what he's telling me," Cascos said. "He's never given me a reason up to this point to doubt him."

During last month's hurricane exercises, CBP established "checkpoints" at evacuation hubs and required volunteers to produce identification papers, an action that troubled emergency management officials, Cascos wrote in a June 16 letter to Vitiello.

With many Valley citizens having either one or several family members residing here illegally, there are concerns that some people may choose not to evacuate because of fears they could be split from family at the Border Patrol checkpoints.

After word got out about the screenings during the hurricane drills, Vitiello wrote in a May 21 letter that the media coverage gave "rise to misinformation and misunderstandings" that needed to be corrected.

He wrote the Border Patrol's role in an evacuation "will be the safeguard of life. No enforcement role will be undertaken that will in anyway impede the safe and orderly evacuation of any member of the South Texas population."

Hurricane season started June 1 and continues through Nov. 30.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/e ... ounty.html

added to homepage with new title

Border Patrol Opens Mexican Border to Illegal Aliens During Hurricane!

http://www.alipac.us/article3378.html

"We're not going to be stopping people and asking where they're from," said Lloyd Easterling, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in Washington, D.C. "We don't want to slow the evacuation process. Life is paramount at this point."

I hope they're not talking about folks from Mexico coming into the United States. As William said, that would be an open invitation to illegal aliens. Oh, and let's not forget the drug smugglers and potential terrorist.

Are they actually talking about the Mexican border are checkpoints in our interior?

Yeah open the border , like it isn't already . This was barely a Hurricane,a Cat 1 . Just a big Rain storm with "Over Kill" all over the news. It's called putting Fear into people . I may be a sorry person for saying this but , They didn't need to come up here . Drive the other way deeper into Mexico . There was pently of warning and more than enough time to prepare for a Rain Storm . Very stupid order issued by the Border Patrol to open it up .

Life is paramount at this point

This was Hardly a big Rain Storm . Why didn't "They" think like this when Katrina was closing on New Orleans ? Cause it was U.S Citizens . Katrina was a true Cat 5 hitting land then walked over New Orleans and Mississippi as a Cat 4 . Thats a Hurricane . Nothing was done except the famous quote from Dubya himself "Good Job Brownie". As Brownie sat on his butt 100 miles inland eating breakfast . Wrong is Right and Right is Wrong Huh Dubya ? Right no wrong oh well
This is just like "Our" government to think more of them than Citizens

But U.S. Border Patrol agents at the Sarita checkpoint will not stop motorists evacuating from a hurricane, an official said Monday.

"We're not going to be stopping people and asking where they're from," said Lloyd Easterling, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in Washington, D.C. "We don't want to slow the evacuation process. Life is paramount at this point."

In other words, COME ON DOWN!

This hurricane fizzled and is not life threatening. THERE IS NO NEED TO EVACUATE PEOPLE FROM MEXICO INTO THE U.S.! If anything, Mexicans should get further into Mexico to avoid getting wet.

Where is all this international cooperation between the U.S. and Mexican authorities? This U.S. border plan is no plan at all! Mexican citizens need to seek shelter in THEIR country, not ours. Where is the Mexican plan for evacuation? Oh, just head North? No, no, no. Just head South! Mexico, the great, needs to take care of their own!