Is the Federal Government Abandoning Border Security Altogether?

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Correction: meant to type Crime along the Mexican border from San Diego to Texas dropped by 14 to 20%.

Edited June 20, 2010 by Sofiyya

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

I've actually stopped at the Fort Hancock CBP station, and in December I called that post as part of making vacation & book-research arrangements. This crossing is one of the few that I have not made along the Texas/Mexico border. When I stopped there (in late 2007), I talked briefly with a CBP agent, who said that the small Mexican villages on the other side were not within walking distance (my interest at that time) if I parked at the port; he said that there was not much of interest to see; and he implied that the area was not particularly safe (without actually coming out & saying so).

During my phone-calling to most of the Tex/Mex CBP ports in December, I asked "On a 1-to-10 scale, how safe would a visit be to [Mexican town] during daylight hours? Is there anything unusual going on?" Most of the other responses I got were "It's about a 7" or the standard (& very true) wisdom "If you stay on the main tourist streets during daylight hours and remain alert to your surroundings, you should be OK." At Fort Hancock, the agent said, "It's completely lawless. The larger Mexican cities have degrees of Mexican police protection, which keeps the trouble minimized. In El Porvenir and the other villages, they're too small to warrant police presence, so the Malos [bad guys] pretty much have their way. The people of Fort Hancock are genuinely afraid that the violence might spill over to this side. And, even if you go across for a brief day-trip before noon or something, and you don't encounter any Malos, the teenagers or young people could give you trouble -- they see someone with nice things or a nice car, and they want it. I don't recommend that you try to visit the other side at all."

It was this report, and the lukewarm answers that I got from other CBP agents along the border of Chihuahua state, that caused Mrs. T-B. & me to visit the Rio Grande Valley-area Mexican border cities (from Brownsville/Matamoros through Del Rio/Ciudad Acuna) instead -- and we had a safe and very grand time.

Here is an article that I found two months ago. I believe that the information in THIS story is not hyperbole. However, in my opinion, much (most) of the other media garbage that we've been fed over the last 2 to 5 years IS overblown and overgeneralized, and the people who are suffering the most are the honest Mexican merchants & professionals in the border cities who are losing their livelihoods largely (not totally) because too many Americans are swallowing hysteria when reality often differs.

I like the independent research you did on the level of safety rating from Tex/Mex CBP using a 1-10 scale. That would make for a good news piece itself. I also think you touch on something important about the responsibilty of reporting news pieces because of the kind of hysteria it may create in the public. All kinds of news angles need to be taken on this story such as what you pointed out about the hot spots being more rural areas vs. the more policed and populated areas and that the level of safety is generally a 7 on a 1-10 scale if you decide to visit most areas across the boarder.

I think it's important to keep persepective in that some boarder areas such as the rural Fort Hancock are going to be a hot spot where as other areas such as from Brownsville/Matamoros through Del Rio/Ciudad Acuna are fairly safe for tourists because of the Mexican police in these towns and the economics of these towns being set up to support the tourists economy. If Mexico has limited law enforcement then it would make sense to distribute their law inforcement to protect the people because of the higher population and tourist based economy. Not that the more rural populations that serve moutain lion stew to tourists and locals doesn't have the same dependent economy but it seems the higher population has a larger voice then these rural areas in regards to recieving safety through law enforcement.

It would also make sense that the law breakers are going to look for the weak points in the boarder such as these rural towns which could make this a State issue and not a Federal issue. That is another story that could be done in regards to States rights and Federal rights in regards to the matters. We kind of see this struggle ongoing with the state of Arizonia. So far I've seen stories on the boarder issues from California, Texas, and the big one on Arizona who basicaly redrew the boarder lines and expanded the Mexico/US boarder to include it's entire fat state to be part of that boarder. I think the Arizona story making it's State part of the boarder region forces the Federal government to deal with the boarder issue by focusing on the problem in their State. The fight right now from my understanding is first over state rights and federal rights on where the US boarder actually is with Mexico and the second fight is the actual boarder issues. Arizonia makes their entire state law enforcement boarder patrol where as the boarder is already established with it's designated law enforcement. For local citizens who the majority are not along the actual boarder or involved in the boarder issues it makes it a really big mess instead of an isolated mess. I have yet to see a story from New Mexico on boarder issues not that there aren't any out there.