Fractious Bradley Border Talk at Library

 A group of about 60 people gathered Wednesday evening, August 23 at the Cascade Library to hear Representative Steve Bradley relate his observations of a recent trip June 12, 13, and 14 along the U.S.-Mexico Border between Brownsville and McAllen, Texas. Being the southern-most cities on the border, this area has a visible backlog of would-be immigrants. 

            Bradley shared slides of the parts of the 3 fences in the area built by U.S. presidents (Trump, Obama & Bush) and the extensive razor wire, perhaps the dominant feature of the border there. According to Bradley, “the most serious problems are drugs and human trafficking. Drugs are a one-time sale, but a person can be re-sold.”

            Both drug/trafficking cartels and the Border Patrol employ drones to scan the area—the patrol looking for holes in fences; cartels and coyotes to find them and get their cargo across.  The Representative also said, “there were 30,000 Chinese and Haitians waiting,” camped along the Rio Grande and showed images of a sea of tents beyond the razor wire on the U.S. side of the Rio. He further pointed out, “the Border Patrol doesn’t have enough people.”

He also met with a couple ranchers in the area, who said the constant pressures of people crossing their property, sometimes in vehicles, costs them crop and property losses.

            Representative Bradley continued, “This constant flow of people is processed, given a court date—in 2027, perhaps now in 2028 the courts are so packed—and then admitted to the country.” Typically, they are picked up by a NGO (non-governmental organization) like Catholic Charities, which receives $1,500 for 3 days from the U.S. government to integrate immigrants.

(There are nine of these organizations, most religious, which receive funds for this service: 1) Church World Services, 2) Ethiopian Development Council, 3) Episcopal Migration Ministries, 4) Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, 5) International Rescue Committee, 6) U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, 7) Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Services, 8) U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which funds Catholic Charities, and 9) World Relief Corporation.)

Here, the meeting became a bit fractious with people shouting that immigrants were good workers and the U.S. needs them, with which Bradley agreed and pointed out that he had “worked to make human trafficking a felony.” At which point, History Teacher Mike Sconsa pleaded with the audience "not to make this polarized like every other discussion.”

Several people including Sconsa asked questions and made observations including a description of some of the Mexican students as some of the hardest working and best at the local high school and reiterating the value of immigrants to U.S. society especially as workers. Representative Bradley urged listeners to focus on pursuing legal status and forcing employers to vet their workers to solve our immigration issues.