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Another Publicitary Stunt by Abbott

ABBOTT NEW WALL | The concertina wall will not be enough to stop the migrants. (Photo/ EFE)

I TELL MY JOURNEY ALONG GOVERNOR’S CONCERTINA WALL

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On the afternoon of Thursday, October 26, my wife, Sherry, and I had the opportunity to drive along the length of the new concertina “wall” that Texas Governor Greg Abbott has placed west of El Paso and up to the border of New Mexico. We started in Sunland Park, New Mexico, turned where a sign reads American Eagle Brick Company, and drove down a winding rutted road that flanks the Rio Grande and ends by the Mexican border.

We later drove along the other side of the wall by following Paisano Boulevard into El Paso. Although the wire was difficult to photograph, the governor’s goal was clear and makes two mistakes. First, it is not helping keep migrants out of the United States. They will already be in the US when they encounter the wall. Instead, he is trying to funnel them away from Texas, up the Rio Grande and into New Mexico. How that helps what he calls national security is hard to understand.

Second, this area is not the area where there is high migrant traffic; that is further to the west. While we were there, we stopped by a shiny new pickup truck and encountered four US soldiers from Arizona. Their task was to watch for migrants coming over the mountain into that area. The problem is that migrants make their crossings at dawn, not in mid-afternoon, and as I said above theydon’t generally cross in that area.

HARD TO PHOTOGRAPH | Barbed wire fence extends from the west of El Paso to the Texas-New Mexico border. (Photos/Morgan Smith)

House of Representative action

A year ago, Governor Abbott sent the Texas National Guard to block the Rio Grande in El Paso called Chihuahuita. The problem then was that the Border Patrol already had that area under control; the Texas soldiers with their vehicles and concertina wire might have looked impressive to some Texas voters but it was just a waste of money. Now, however, Governor Abbott has a chance to make a difference. The US House of Representatives with a new Speaker is able to function as a governing body.

One action they should take immediately is to vote for President Biden’s request for funding to train and hire more Border Patrol agents. I have twice spent early mornings with the Border Patrol in the area to the west of Abbott’s concertina “wall” and seen how effective these agents are in detaining those who cross illegally. They form a highly impressive “human wall” but they need support. Abbott could do some real good by rallying the Republican members of Texas’s Congressional delegation and encouraging them to vote for Biden’s budget request.

Abbott could also drop the idea of delaying the border crossings of truck coming from Mexico to search them for migrants. These delays are causing economic damage to both countries, and they are futile because migrants come on foot. He could also encourage his delegation to vote for an expanded guest worker program. Many of those who do cross are men whose goal is to find temporary or seasonal work in areas like agriculture or construction, make far more than they can make in their countries and then return home. They need decent wages, and we need the workers.

FEWER MIGRANTS | The arrival of migrants in the Juárez area appears to have decreased.

Visiting shelter for migrants

As for migrant activity, we visited three shelters on this trip – the Sacred Heart church in El Paso where migrants, mostly from Venezuela, were waiting in the street for an evening meal. There were far fewer than in earlier visits. We then took blankets and clothing to the Respettrans shelter in Juárez where there were only about fifty in all. In earlier months, there would be 150-200 migrants, all awaiting asylum interviews with US officials. Last we stopped at the Punto Beta migrant facility located in the fire station in Palomas, Mexico some 70 miles west of El Paso and there were no migrants there.

In terms of the flow of migrants, the border situation is constantly changing. There are solutions, however – practical solutions that should be bi-partisan. Let’s stop the grandstanding and get them done.