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Title: Daily Texan Border Diction
Date: 1990-11-08
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| Title | Daily Texan Border Diction |
| Date | 1990-11-08 |
| Description |
4 IMAGES November 8, 1990
MAGE alice
table of contents for november 8, 1990
8 IMAGES November 8
t’s noon on.the Rio eC
Grande. The river — fiscal, year 1988° ‘there were 6():294.
_ Separating Mexico Only. this year. has the scope of ap.
and. the, United prehensions. approached pre-1986 lev-
States Sheams els. 2 oe
brightly in ‘the But then ‘stopping : as many aliens as
midday, October possible: ts not really what this often
sun. Above, onthe dangerous game —— mixed with the Drug
international, or.*new’’ bridge connect- War, pounes and human te is all
ing Brownsville, Texas, and. Matamo- » about.” :
ros, Tamaulipas, tourists Mexicans, oe ,
Mexican-Americans, Anglos —— pour Refugee rights activists on Friday
nonchalantly. across in both directions: blasted i immigration agents’ raid of Casa
Below, a hundred yards to the West,».. Oscar Romero, and a spokesman ‘for the
two.men_ in their mid- 20s scramble up Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville
the side of the river bank on the U.S. — called the action ‘‘both unnecessary and
side, their clothes in hand,. and disap- » un-American.’
pear amid the weeds. ~~ U.S. Border. Patrol and Immigration
A tan four-door, four- wheel- drive van and Naturalization Service agents en-
sits perched on the bank. It goes for- tered the church-operated refugee com-
ward, and the two men slip into.the van .pound with a search. warrant Thursday
paddy wagon without.a word. evening and arrested 35 people, includ-
Ten.minutes later, beneath the bridge, ing five undocumented Indian nationals
a Brownsville-borm: brother awaits his . and two Pakistanis. :
Matamoros-born counterpart, who strips | — Valley Morning Star, Sept. 29, 1990
layer: by layer and crosses waist*deep in
the muddy waters. The two greet one
another. amid the discarded cigarette’
butts, clothes and sludge under the
bridge’s girders. The Mexican. pulls up
his pants and the tan van. pulls up the
road. One green-clad Border Patrol
agent exchanges pleasantries. with the shelter to those
two youths as his-partner takes after an- - who arrive at its
other boy who has been watching. the door. Matitain order and enforce basic
scene, He doesn't catch the smiling rules of courtesy.
speedster; instead, he apprehends anoth- Named after the Salvadoran:archbish-
er man irying to fade into the wall of 2 op who was gunned down reportedly by
local | grocery store. His’ no is. s still wet. ~-government- hired : thugs in 1980, the
tun:by the Catholic Relief Ser-
cen e He RAR Li zs
A vice, has offered refus ge to undocument-
asa Oscar Romero,
a myriad of build-
ings just North of
Brownsville, had a
| few basic rules.
|. Provide food and
—In late 1988, they essentially stopped
checking documents of those arriving,
except, of course, the $50 bill. That
was checked extremely carefully — it
was very frustrating.
he above” scene |
took pe Ott. na
E. Michael Trominski
G THE VOICES OF VICTIMS
‘They got me in the dormitory,”’ re- residents toa 15-day stay. More import-
membered Honduran Jose Antonio Ro- ant, the shelter now accepts only Central’.
DY
n house up to 200 ~
pope. salting se there have yo
pe er
the anfee men who
4 se gil oo *, fi, me il
the United States piece of the puzzle arrived When i
ee Young, a ‘local television reporter,
eans of existence
vided" a Border Patrol agent with a copy driguez. ° — were take through | is . its doors, ae others
— or just to, f
—— - grow ee
river. between the ‘two brligess :
caught, are. sent sine and: shina
CFOS gam
of a Ce interview of certain ine,
faftcdh through the rap-
BARCA. the Border. Acsoptition For
pet une ey visitors, Ng
:_/ Refugees from Central’ A merica, the in-
cident was ‘‘an outrage, and not because
of the [arrest of] the Oo tral Ameri-
Ives as Indian nationals ille-
ited States.’
ple id on general ie at ede who
et be underground lor terrorist activ-
ity. -
ment, but whe 1 ae
town, and ee ask
like ay:
the native-born
» ‘It’s outrageous that
| mare from LL? they
like sod A
angie
elements.
When one of the men from Ind ee
eae abou _ warrant, he ran,Pi-
P ‘But he was’ ‘treat-
oor that —: ‘he was
he said, ‘I can’t
: ee re-
clit
four %
age to atinidege a total church o on where
to be Wa gusilow'ae i:
ic Haitian and Nicaragtian C mmuni-
Ry a McAllen i a has the ee
cman os
und and ice the. oe
. SIX Indian aliens ar-
o ents ouarded | the Fea men in'dark
blue ‘windbreakers and civilian clothes
— membe of an anti-smuggling inves-
tigative unit according to Garza — be- #7 4
gan to question people and make arrests”. to enforce a nie stadt rule fimiting
jumber of » apprehensions in® Athe- tl a
\ Peal \ ; ' GS a) ap Bt Pm aL
eh hone b ota | ye hry Per ibee 8 a) i {eb Lf Pen be fee baer nh ab tees ty Pole, Wit } BOB aE ie vt PSE NE Sie
November 8, 1990 IMAGES 9
ans), and.518& from other countries. team that he says is being, trained ‘for ernment informed his uncle that they into SHES, for. ee a decade
The actual number of Central Ameri- — more independence ~~ a less poutine! would kill five of his cows because they A000 eer
cans crossing the border is, of course, — situation.”’ were running out of food. ) But | e have been detained in
much higher, although nobody knows ~The Montes styl nanever otk Mye tincle agreed, because he had ft pose a danger nity, or 1s ‘ According to
how much. A 1987 study by Segundo that 28.5 percent of the Salvadorans choieé."’ Diego explained. *The next likely to avoid depo
Montes, a Salvadorean professor at a — who arrived*after 1980 responded that ey yen be returned fon «fields, person will a Wa
Jesuit-run University, estimates that they emigrated. exclusively for political his house was burned down, and his Currently, there a
more than a million legal and illegal Sal- reasons and another 20.6 percent for po-
BARCA’s S Geho Kasei Japanese-
merican, families were interned ee
during the World War II, icnas
Rolando Gomez, who works at ‘Port
earings, the
ters — the oe I
vadorans reside in the United States, litical anid economic reasons. nlsioee that he should t help the Bu guer- ing Center, cape Isabel as a supervising immigration: olfi-
Most Central’Americans travel sby | Unfortunately, Montes has not been rillas. r Get, has been serving the INS. proudly
land through® Mexico and eventually. able to perform a follow- Up. study. That’ Se what it’slike to live in othe Tor be yea, He re . has seen Iti |
pass through the Valley. Those who are, ~~ Montes was assassinated along with five country,”’ he.not : sadly. ‘It’s best to” nor devéttion center
not apprehended by La Migra have some... other Jesuit priests and two women last agree with both ‘sides but not let either of ty 85. and Los Fres
choicesy They can attempt to join family November i in San evade The Salva- them know it.’ _ Those apprehended
or friends throughout the country, living aj After authortiey al ey INS oe com- estify before an imm
undetected lives, orsthey can approach ee
INS officials and apply. for legal status,
either under family unification programs _
Cuban refuge
to the ae.
divec i such testi
can appeal . the Ba
or under a request for political asylum. the military bas been i Aitectly oN their saber had digtpated into fear.
Approval rates for these ‘affirmative — in as vigipnee that has claimed more But the majority simply went back to
‘the dinner table. After facing economic
and political oppression: in their home
countries at the hands Mf coyotes (people
who smuggle alieng:for a price), robbers
shea: and corrupt policemen i in Mexico, U.S,
ty International have d iled reports authorities become just ‘another in a se-
applicants”’ are slight — between 1983
and.1989, only 2.5 percent of, Salva-
dorans, aie percent of Hondurans,-and 2
percent of *Guatemalans were granted abl
refugee status. During the same period, —
27.1 percent of Nicaraguans were ac:
cepted (see graphic). \ Showing that the overwhelming majority __ ries of oppressors.
‘*Central Americans come because of the killings have nvolved military 2 :
there’s economic disaster in their coun- personnel or ‘‘death’’ squads connected e * an
tries — the same reason Mexicans arrive to the. security « forces. Hondurans and
in large numbers,”” explained E..Mi- Guatemalans” face similar situations, The U.S. ImmaiPeajon and Natural-
chael Trominski, INS. District Director — while Nicaraguans have been the vic-.° ization Service has sent the U.S. inspec-
in the Harlingen district, ‘‘Even if we _ tims of the eight-year Civil War between for general's office reports alleging that
had a cessation of all hostilities, we U.S. -sponsored contra guerillas and the .. security guards at the Bayview detention
ol
ester mr 4
would still have” a significant influx of left-wing Sandinista government. camp sexually harass female guards and all Seiad wear. Beam a distance,
Central Americans. There would be no Most of the Central Americans inter- aes: : they stand out as fiery blots marching i inf el
change inthe numbers coming North.’ : icwed at Casa Romero agreed that they Qn ile Herald, iy 29 single file from one pala to the next
Trominski, an amiable and frank ca- had come in search of jobs and _ better a ingeee the compound, - : of Sfiens” el bon as i
on- Mexican. ee Pe fas i December.
‘‘aliens’’ who ate
apprehended have
even tougher ae for target orden c :
choices then’ their as ane Gulf . » = as the om
undetected’ coun- > CONN
;. INS offi-
IS make a deci-
reer INS professional, concedes the economic conditions. But clearly, they
disparate © treatment’’ indicated by also left countries w ere basic human
disparate approval rates of Nicataguans, .. rights were routinely violated, and many
Salvadorans and other countries, com- left in fear of theiFlives.
pared with people from, European na- * Diego,’ .@ 30- -year-old G uatemalan
tions such as Romania, where 70 per- front the mountains west of Guatemala _
cent are granted legal status. He points City, tells a story about his uncle. al he”
hopefully to a new asylum adjudication guerrillas attempting to topple the er.
oe nate to 5 ahi
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