Much has been said about the president's border emergency and the Democrats' (and some Republicans) to veto it. Well, like I said, I won't get political but the fact is that the veto is a political move to make President Trump look bad.
Why you ask? That's the job they have reverted to doing instead of doing the job they were elected to do. Whether you support Trump or see him as clueless clown, the fact remains that our US / Mexico border is still not secure and drugs, criminals, and illegal aliens are still pouring in on a daily basis.
Regardless of what you hear on the news and from far distanced reporters tell you, it's still part of an agenda. How do I know that and can I prove it? Sure! I was born and raised seven miles from the border of Mexico in deep South Texas. I have seen the change in Mexico since I used to go there every weekend for shopping and partying as a young'un. When I moved back to my home town after a 10 year stint in the Army, I joined the Guard and was soon attached to TxDPS and assigned to a border security mission alongside the US Border Patrol where my team and I would received reports from several law enforcement agencies of incidents along the US / Mexico border.
It was our job to receive these report, extract information and intelligence, then add up the numbers and statistics on a weekly basis. We would then create a weekly report that was sent to Austin Border Security Operations Center. The Dept of Homeland Security found our reports very useful as well as the the US Army Northcom Command, Southcom, White House Sit-room, and occasionally some other government three lettered agencies.
My small organization saw firsthand the large amounts of dope that were seized every day. Everyday, it was our job to count the number of aliens caught by the many agencies along the border. They were referred to as IAs, (Illegal Aliens), UAs, (Undocumented Aliens), or OTMs, (Other than Mexicans).
An average day in 2017 was around 20 Mexican UAs, 394 OTMs, and eight gang member. The interesting thing was that many of the OTMs came from places China, Eritrea, Equarorial Guinea, Ghana, Guadaloupe, Cameroon, Chile, Uruguay, and ironically, I remember when a Canadian was caught crossing the Rio Grand River. Keep in mind that these stats are ONLY for the five counties along the the southern tip of Texas over a one week period.
Illegal alien apprehensions are NOT counted as arrests but as referrals and apprehensions. Gang member arrests from outside of the US were included in the arrests of gang members.
As for the drugs, 230 lbs of marijuana was the average sized load seized between 2014-2015. That has dropped to about 150 lbs, or about 25,000 lbs of marijuana per week. Cocaine dropped to about 40 lbs per week, Heroin down to about 50 lbs per week, and meth up to about 50 lbs per week. That was just on northbound operations.
Southbound Ops would seize several thousands of US Dollars and weapons headed to the cartels in Mexico and Central American countries.
Anti Trump reporters and politicians love to try to disprove these facts by coming down to the border for a day or two but they always seem to report from the least active places along the border to "prove" their point. Let me or my Border Patrol coworkers take them to where the action is going on, oh wait, that would disprove their agenda.
Anyways, This apprehension took place about seven mile from my house in March of 2019.
https://valleycentral.com/news/local/record-breaking-apprehensions-in-quiet-town-locals-react
This is near where President Trump visited in January of 2019.
https://valleycentral.com/news/local/border-patrol-agents-seize-48-million-in-methamphetamine
February of 2019. Next town over from mine.
https://valleycentral.com/news/local/border-patrol-seizes-over-900000-worth-of-marijuana
Oct, 2018 MS 13 gang members apprehended. Other Central American and Mexican gangs not well know are the Barrio 18 AKA, M-18, Barrio Azteca, Surenos, and Mexican Mafia to name a few.
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/rio-grande-valley-border-patrol-arrests-multiple-ms-13-gang-members
So why are these numbers still high you ask. President Obama also declared an emergency government shutdown from 10/1/13 - 10/16/13 (16 days), that resulted in many Border Patrol Agents having to work for free and many quit seeking employment elsewhere. Not much hoopla there but I saw firsthand many of my USBP Agent coworkers retire early or quit or seek work elsewhere. So basically, The Border Patrol never fully recovered from that loss and are left with fewer boots on the ground. Don't think the cartels and smugglers didn't take advantage of that!
This was my station and that banner on the building has been up since 2010. It's 2019 and it's still there. The Republicans sought to block the Affordable Care Act. Now the Democrats are seeking to veto Trumps Border Wall emergency. Again, I'm not choosing the ACA or the Border wall over the other nor Obama over Trump. I've given you the numbers and stats from my personal boots on the ground. You decide. If you still don't believe me, come to the RGV and stay a week or two. Talk to the agents on the ground, they're all over the place. They live here too and part of our culture.
I'd like to mention that even though we live with the problem of illegal immigration, drug, and human smuggling, the RGV is still a very safe place to live. Just remember that the bad guys and immigrants know not to mess with Americans and want to keep the lowest profile possible. The last thing they want is to be seen or harm an American because they know the law will come down extra hard for doing so.
Being in the military, I have lived in many more places that I didn't feel as safe as I do in the RGV even though I know what's going on around me and my family. Outside of work, my family and I have NEVER had an issue with the border problems along the Rio Grand River.
Stay safe my friends and drink Dos Equis Responsibly.
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