[Also by Juan Mann: Raft Man of the Rio Grande; Another VDARE.COM Whistleblower Says Customs Crippling Border Enforcement; Coyotes Change Tactics—Co-opt Border Patrol]
OK, you know this already: the United States has an immigration non-enforcement system which lets illegal aliens into the country rather than actually deporting anyone.
One consequence of this policy paralysis: the demoralization of federal officers, who labor in a world of "law enforcement" turned upside down. Of all the patriotic Americans now fighting immigration anarchy, the most courageous are whistle blower federal employees.
I received one such whistleblowing e-mail from a VDARE.com reader last week. The reader is a federal employee, so I provide the following disclaimer:
The opinions expressed on this page do not in any way represent the official position of the DOJ, EOIR, BIA, DHS, CBP, ICE, CIS or any other branch of the United States government . . . but maybe they will someday!
The reader asks:
"[p]lease help us and convince the politicians that they must change their policies and begin enforcing the immigration laws of the United States. I want to do my job—please give me a reason to do it to the best of my abilities."
Note that the tragedy here—another unintended consequence of the illegal alien invasion—is that we desperately need American patriots like our VDARE.com reader, rather than the sycophants and lackeys who now thrive in the federal bureaucracy.
Keep the emails coming, whistleblower patriots!—email Juan Mann!
Date: October 12, 2005
Subject: It just doesn't matter
I have finally come to the realization that it doesn't matter. No matter what I attempt to do to control illegal aliens from entering this country, it doesn't matter.
The people I work for, Customs & Border Protection, don't care. The Department of Homeland Security doesn't care. Congress doesn't care.
And to top it all off, the President of the United States only encourages more illegal immigration.
I must state from the beginning that I am not anti-immigrant. I am the grandson of immigrants; my grandparents entered the US through Ellis Island. My wife is an immigrant, from South America. I have two immigrant brother-in-laws. I am part of a family of immigrants.
But, most important of all, a family of LEGAL immigrants.
I spent over 20 years serving my country as a proud member of the US Army.
I would not trade those years for anything. I was always proud to wear my uniform. When I was planning for my life after the Army, I felt the need to continue to work for the government of this country.
I have known for years that my country was being invaded by illegal immigrants. I wanted to work in a position where I could help stem the tide. I was told from the very beginning that I was too old for Border Patrol or to be an Immigration Agent. So I decided that I would try and be the best Immigration Inspector possible.
When I was at the Immigration Officer Academy I studied hard. I have continued to study on my own time since then. Many of my co-workers remark about my knowledge of Immigration Laws, Policies and Procedures. I am usually the "go to" person when there is a hard question to answer or case to handle.
But no matter how hard I work, the people I work for don't care. I will give you some examples.
The other day I arrived home from work and was eating my dinner. During our conversation, my wife mentioned to me that she was told that there are two new students in our daughter's elementary school. One of them is in our daughter's class.
I thought that was nice to know until my wife told me the rest of the story. These two children and their parents crossed the river illegally over the weekend. On Monday, the children are enrolled in school, Medicaid and Food Stamps.
How am I supposed to teach my children the importance of following the laws of this country?
How am I supposed to tell my children I won't be home for their birthday or Christmas because I am working at an important job for our country?
How are my children to feel when other people tell them their father has a stupid job that means nothing?
Once a Border Patrolman stopped five El Salvadorans at the local bus station and requested to see their documents. They each presented Form I-862's, Notice to Appear (NTA), meaning they were part of the "Catch and Release" program [for the EOIR Immigration Court litigation bureaucracy]. The BP agent thought the documents looked a little "unusual" and brought them by the Immigration Office. He asked me if I could look these NTAs up on the system and provide him with photos of the people these documents belonged to.
As I gave him each photo, we both saw that none of these documents belonged to the people that presented them. They were very high-quality copies of the originals.
Realizing that this was a definite case of fraud, I commented to the BP agent that I guess these folks would now be deported for sure.
In a very disgusted tone, the BP Agent told me that they would not be deported. He would have to take them to the station and process them for their own [EOIR] court date and release them.
He said that there was absolutely nothing he could do.
Do you think these five people will show up for their court hearing? Do you realize that 95% of the people that are released never show up?
We have all heard about the thousands of Brazilians who were crossing illegally into the U.S. A couple of months ago, DHS decided that maybe Border Patrol should start processing these folks for Expedited Removal and send them back. Several Immigration Inspectors volunteered to help Border Patrol process the Expedited Removals.
We were told that we could not help BP with the Expedited Removals because it was their job. Let's see, I thought we worked for the same organization and maybe it would be nice if we practiced so teamwork and help each other out. Who do you think patrols the border when BP is busy at the station doing all that paperwork?
Well, the ER program for Brazilians really works. Now the Brazilians don't turn themselves in. They pay a little more and the smugglers take them all the way past the checkpoints.
But guess what! We still have hundreds of illegal crossers turn themselves in everyday. All the Hondurans, Guatemalans and El Salvadorans still turn themselves in groups. The ones that show up in our office all cross the river by raft. These rafts cross the river everyday, in broad daylight and within a few hundred yards of the International Bridge.
As a matter of fact, several people that cross the bridge legally have commented to me that the raft is crossing within sight of the cars waiting to cross the bridge.
Let's see, where is Border Patrol? They are at the station processing two hundred OTMs ["Other Than Mexican" nationals] who crossed earlier in the day.
What is happening to all these OTM's? They are all receiving I-862's [Notices to Appear] and told when to show up in Immigration Court.
How many of these folks make copies of the documents for their friend to use? And don't we know that approximately 95% of these people never show up in court?
Not long ago one of the Officers escorted a Honduran into the Immigration office that arrived from the North at a Port of Entry. This is normal. Folks show up all day coming in from the North, after they have crossed the river on the rafts, and turn themselves in to us. We have to call Border Patrol to come pick them up so that they can process them and give them their I-862.
But this Honduran was a little different. After he caused a problem in the lobby of our immigration office, he had to be physically restrained and put in a holding area. When the Border Patrol asked to describe the person [before picking him up], they said "I think that's the guy that already has his 862. Check for his documents."
The Honduran indeed had an I-862 in his possession. The BP agent said that "we did that guy the other day. In fact we've had him here a few times already. We don't want him. He has his papers. Just kick him out into the street."
After talking with this man, it was determined that he definitely had mental problems.
But he was sent back out into the street. This person is still roaming around the streets and his court date is still about 2 weeks away.
I'm sure you feel safer now knowing that we are even sending persons with mental problems out into the streets of your community.
In South Texas there is a very large man-made lake called Falcon Lake. This lake was formed by damming the Rio Grande River and stores water for the majority of the people in the Rio Grande Valley to drink.
The dam is also an International crossing between the U.S. and Mexico. This crossing is open from 7:00 am until 8:45 pm, 7 days a week. Every night, two Inspectors drive the mile from the POE [Port of Entry] Inspection area to the middle of the dam to close the gate.
This is where the interesting part begins.
The causeway, a two-lane road on top of the dam, is built up rather high. On the lake side, you have rocks and water. On the down-stream side, you have a very steep hill that a mountain goat would have trouble climbing. From the POE Inspection area, even though it is a straight road to the middle, you cannot see the gate. We have found that many people have decided to take advantage of this.
Unknown persons hide packages, bundles and even human beings on the U.S. side of the gate after dark or during periods of low visibility. They wait until the gate is closed and the security shift, consisting of two Inspectors comes on duty.
Now let me explain something here — there are no lights or cameras in this area to make it easier to see what is going on. All the package, bundles and humans that were hiding in the rocks sneak their way into the U.S.
Often, the Inspectors on the security shift at the POE see them as they make their way through the brush.
The Inspectors do exactly what they are ordered to do — they call Border Patrol and the County Sheriff.
You see, the Inspectors are not permitted to leave the building and apprehend the folks as they walk by. The orders are — be observant and report what you see, take no action.
Sounds like a nice plan. The Sheriff's office is in Rio Grande City, TX, about 25 miles away. If you're lucky, one of the two deputies on duty might be nearby. But that is doubtful. Starr County is very big for 2 deputies to patrol all night. The Border Patrol station is in La Grulla, TX, about 40 miles away. The Border Patrol might have a unit nearby — if they don't already have a full house.
Near Sullivan City, TX, in a little town named Los Ebanos, TX, you can find the only still-operational ferry that crosses the river between the US and Mexico. This is a legal ferry, with Immigration and Customs Inspectors on both sides of the river, and you can even cross the river in your vehicle.
However, the ferry only operates during daylight hours. At night the ferry is secured and the vehicle gates are locked.
Sounds nice, except for one small problem: the only security at the crossing during the night is a surveillance camera. The only monitor where you can watch what goes on in Los Ebanos is at the Rio Grande City, TX POE, about 15 miles away.
Rio Grande City also closes from 11:45 pm until 7:00 am. During the night, there is a security detail consisting of 2 Inspectors.
An Inspector who had the security detail at Rio Grande City one night noticed something on the monitor for Los Ebanos.
First, there was a lone male walking around the area, checking things out. Soon he disappeared from view. After a few minutes they could see three rafts with three people on each cross the river and land on the U.S. side.
The Inspectors immediately called Border Patrol. After the first nine illegals landed, the rafts were pulled with ropes back to Mexico. Soon the rafts returned with nine more illegals. Still no Border Patrol. The rafts returned to Mexico.
The next time the rafts appeared, the nine men on board had big bales with them —marijuana? These nine men got off the rafts, picked up their bales, weighing about 75 -90 lbs each and disappeared from view on the U.S. side.
Still no Border Patrol.
Soon, the men carrying the bales returned to the rafts and were pulled back to Mexico. All this took about 20 minutes.
One hour and fifteen minutes after the call was made to Border Patrol, the first agents arrived on the scene. All they could find were tracks.
You wonder why it took Border Patrol so long to arrive? They were processing the OTMs who were already in the station.
Several times, I personally have made reports of people living in the U.S. illegally. I have even reported evidence of fraudulent immigration applications.
What has been done? Nothing!
The teachers at my daughter's school have commented to my wife about all the problems they have with the illegal alien children that are enrolled in the school. They have told her how the illegal alien parents of these children act around they school.
Does the school administration care about these problems? Of course not — the more students they have, the more money they get from the federal government.
The federal government makes sure that these illegal aliens are protected.
Now, you tell me:
Does it really matter whether or not I do the job I was trained to do—and want to do?
What good is it if I catch one fraudulent document?
Prosecute one Mexican for making a False Claim to U.S. citizenship?
Cancel one visa and do an Expedited Removal because someone worked in the U.S. illegally?
The U.S. government refuses to enforce the immigration laws that I am trying to enforce.
For these reasons, and many more, the majority of immigration inspectors and I are searching for employment elsewhere.
Those of us that believe in what we do, and want to do it well, no longer want to be part of an organization that is derelict in its duty to protect the citizens of our country.
We ask for your help. Please help us—convince the politicians that they must change their policies and begin enforcing the laws of the United States.
I want to do my job—please give me a reason to do it to the best of my abilities.
And God Bless the United States of America.
Juan Mann [send him email] is a lawyer and the proprietor of DeportAliens.com.
