By Paul Nachman
04/13/2020
Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on November 30, 2016, then-Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan told the senators that, instead of focusing on securing the border, many of his agents were acting as “professional childcare providers.” According to an account of the hearing from the Federation for American Immigration Reform [FAIR]:
[Morgan] relayed a story from one agent who said, “Chief, we’re going to do whatever this country asks us to do, but I never thought in my 20 years that I would be, as part of procurement, ordering baby powder and baby wipes.” In another border sector, as part of their job, agents “make sure the food, the burritos we’re providing are being warmed properly.”
[Legislative Update: 12/06/2016; scroll down to "Border Patrol Chief: Agents are Functioning as Childcare Providers." Or see the hearing’s video for yourself. Jump in at about 45:50 for the next 35 seconds.]
One senses some frustration in Morgan about the resources (and taxpayers' money) being used in this way, but there’s nothing explicit — check out the video.
So I was interested recently to stumble across a routine border-chaos article from mid-2019 in which it was clear that at least one Border Patrol agent was disgusted with — and likely resentful of — the situation. Reporter Javier Tovar of Agence France-Presse described a scene near the bus station in San Bernardino, California, where three Border Patrol vans were disgorging "migrants" who would then disperse via Greyhound throughout the country (presumably to further burden our welfare programs):
They line up on a sidewalk as their names are checked by a representative from a local [non-governmental organization] who also enquires about their health.
A man asks where he can rent a phone and one of the agents sternly answers back in Spanish.
"You decided to come this way into the US, you figure out what to do," the agent says. "What do you expect? You want me to give you my house?"
[Migrants dropped at US bus stations as Border Patrol shelters overflow, May 25, 2019; emphasis added]
Hear! Hear! for all Border Patrol agents brave enough to shout out the equivalent of "I say it’s spinach, and I say the hell with it."
The reporter also added some local color:
"Send them back to Tijuana (Mexico)," shouts a white bearded man in a red pick-up truck as he drives by the group of migrants at the bus station in San Bernardino.
"Or better yet, send them to (liberal) San Francisco," he adds.
The article attracted more than 200 comments from readers, and the next-to-most popular among them showed that some of our fellow citizens have a good grasp of the situation and can describe it compactly. This paragraph by "Anita" attracted 144 thumbs-up votes (and only three negatives), along with nine supporting comments:
Poverty and gang violence were never valid grounds for asylum. So why on earth are these illegal aliens being rewarded for cutting in line ahead of people who have waited for years to emigrate in a lawful and orderly manner? They have no money, no clue where to go or what to do next, so they will be entirely dependent on government services and charities. They will overwhelm our schools and hospitals, help themselves to services and infrastructure intended for legal residents, and few will turn up for their immigration court date. Even if their claim to asylum is denied, deporting them will be a long and expensive process. Most will be here forever. And this provides an enormous 'pull factor' for thousands more to gate-crash our country. Why is America, one of the most powerful nations in the world, powerless to control this invasion?
As John Derbyshire and I have both written, there’s encouragement to be had in the comment threads.
And maybe there is, too, among vocally disgusted Border Patrol agents? Over to you, Federale!
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