Thread: TX:ILLEGAL SOB STORY - BP HURTS EVACUATION EFFORTS

Maybe the ILLEGALS and their Anchors should scurry south of the Border as an evacuation route!

Another ILLEGAL SOB Story by Falkenberg.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 91122.html

Lisa Falkenberg



May 19, 2008, 11:28PM
Evacuation hurdles are a threat to all


Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

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Take a moment to recall the chaos.

The claustrophobic caravan of cars, trucks and SUVs creeping along a highway evacuation route-turned-prison with hundreds of thousands — by some estimates, millions — of men, women and children trapped in the steamy confines.

Recall the overheating engines, gas tanks bled dry, pumps tapped out. I'm still haunted by the image of one woman who carried the limp body of a toddler in her arms as she ran from car to car in search of water.

Now take those memories of the 2005 evacuation before Hurricane Rita and add another obstacle: a Border Patrol checkpoint at which each and every car would be stopped, drivers questioned, suspicious vehicles searched while those behind languish in the logjam.


At odds with security chief
That's the plan, announced last week by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in the event of a hurricane evacuation of the Rio Grande Valley. It's at odds with the recommendations of the state's homeland security director Steve McCraw and Gov. Rick Perry, who, his spokeswoman told me, plans to take up the issue with Border Patrol Commissioner W. Ralph Basham in a meeting Thursday.

But if the Border Patrol won't budge, the stubborn policy could push chaos into catastrophe.

Border Patrol agents plan to check the citizenship of people passing through inland traffic checkpoints and those boarding buses to leave the Valley. Evacuees deemed to be in the country illegally will be hauled off to detention centers, where they'll be a safe distance from the hurricane but in the direct pathway of deportation proceedings.

No matter how noble Border Patrol's mission to protect our borders, in the face of a natural disaster, checking carloads of fleeing residents for documentation of citizenship is a bit like arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

In the eyes of migrants and families with undocumented members, safety routes such as highways and buses quickly morph into dangerous dragnets to be avoided at all costs.


Should some stay behind?
The effect of such fears is documented. During the wildfire evacuations last year in California, simply the rumors of deportations and the mere presence of Border Patrol at shelters were enough to scare off illegal immigrants.

At the time, the feds denied that they had been rounding up illegal immigrants at evacuation centers. A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement was quoted in a Los Angeles Times story, saying, "We are not arresting fire evacuees. It's absolutely ludicrous to suggest otherwise."

Apparently, the idea is less ludicrous in the eyes of the Border Patrol when it involves hurricane evacuees.

As a hurricane approaches, the goal should be to lure as many people as possible to safety. Considering the challenge involved in convincing the general population to evacuate, why would we create another reason for certain people to remain in harm's way?

To further complicate matters, Border Patrol officials can't say for sure how they'll handle the inevitable cases of uncertainty, mix-ups or situations where citizen children are traveling with undocumented parents or grandparents.

But all moral questions and compassion aside, simple common sense dictates that any unnecessary obstacle that slows a massive evacuation of potentially more than a million people is a bad idea.

That said, it should be noted that some have suggested Border Patrol is talking big about the checkpoint issue mainly to ward off criminal activity. Border Patrol officials may fully realize that they'll have to be more lax on enforcement during an evacuation but can't very well advertise that in the media. If this is true, it's reassuring.

But as the San Antonio Express-News reported last week, a reporter saw Border Patrol agents in a mock evacuation rehearsing citizenship document checks of people boarding buses. A Border Patrol spokesman confirmed that this and the open highway checkpoints were the planned procedures during an actual event.

"It's business as usual at the checkpoints," the spokesman, Dan Doty, was quoted telling the Express-News.

The impending threat of a natural disaster is about as far from "business as usual" as you can get. Especially in a region with only one safe escape route.

Let's hope that the governor and concerned Valley officials can talk some sense into Border Patrol officials, for the sake of all residents involved.

lisa.falkenberg@chron.com

IAs would be better off leaving any such areas asap, instead of waiting for evacuations. Reunite with your family in your homeland now, before you're caught and deported.

No problem, if you are illegal go back the same way you came in.

Like what difference would a check point make except to help enforce immigration laws . Anyone who has seen a hurricane evac route knows they crawl . So big deal , whip out your ID and say "Hi" .

With the traffic jams and "slowed-to-a-standstill" traffic in mass evacuations, all the BP has to do is walk down the line of cars and check each one who is near the checkpoint. Quick and easy!!! No holdup!

TexasGal

Has it ever occured to people like this writer that MAYBE the policy is INTENDED to encourage illegal aliens to head south?

Duh...........

citizen children are traveling with undocumented parents or grandparents.

Minor child is dependent and the ward of the illegal adults and should be treated as an extension of the adults and no exceptions for their anchor baby status. Also, children don't carry ID so the kids will be undocumented at the time.

But all moral questions and compassion aside, simple common sense dictates that any unnecessary obstacle that slows a massive evacuation of potentially more than a million people is a bad idea.

I really can't resist re-wording this...

But all moral questions and lawfulness aside, simple common sense dictates that any necessary obstacle that slows a massive influx of potentially more than a million people is an excelent idea.

Dixie

With the traffic jams and "slowed-to-a-standstill" traffic in mass evacuations, all the BP has to do is walk down the line of cars and check each one who is near the checkpoint. Quick and easy!!! No holdup!

TexasGal

I participated in the Rita evacuation. We would sit for ages in the heat
then move for a few feet and stop. At one point I timed it and it took us
an hour to go one mile. Traffic was at a complete standstill for miles in all
directions, roads were glogged, no gas, no food, no water, no medical
facilities. There was NO law enforcement because there was no
way they could have gotten to us. It was every man for himself, most of
us just trying out best to get out of that nightmare. Although for the most
part everyone was civil there was a certain feeling of complete
lawlessness about the whole thing. One person told me that they wouldn't
open any of the convenience stores because too many people were
stealing stuff.

The Border patrol would have had their hands full trying to round up and
detain what would have amounted to thousands of illegal immigrants,
where would they put them? where would they put their vehicles? They
would have had a very large riot on their hands.

As much as I applaud the idea of rounding up illegals during an
evacuation. I think it's a very dangerous scenario. But then if they don't
check them in an evacuation that leaves illegals free to go anywhere
north of those checkpoints which defeats the whole purpose of it being
there in the first place.


Def