Border chief says wall is necessary
MISSION — The new Customs and Border Protection chief in the Rio Grande Valley supports a border wall in the region, saying the flow of immigrants crossing the river “can overwhelm a community.”
“The Rio Grande Valley possesses many challenges that are amplified by a lack of technology and infrastructure in one of the busiest corridors in the country,” Rudolfo Karisch told Border Patrol agents, land owners, local officials and nonprofit leaders Friday in his first “State of the Border” address.
He described the border as a place that provides opportunity for “trade and travel” and for “a malicious element,” such as drugs, crime and human smuggling.
Heavy machinery arrived this week along a levee in Mission, where construction soon will start on six of 33 miles of new bollard fencing that Congress funded last year.
Two national wildlife refuges, land around the historic La Lomita Chapel, the National Butterfly Center and Bentsen State Park are in the likely path of the wall, which already has been staked out by surveyors. A judge Thurs-
day granted the government access to survey land near the 170-year-old chapel.
Another 8-mile segment of the wall is under contract near a historic cemetery, where protesters from CarrizoComecrudo tribe have camped out for more than three weeks.
“We all know we have seen some challenging times in our RGV area, and especially in our border,” Mission Mayor Armando O’Cana said. “We need both parties for us to execute our shared mission. Our shared mission is exceptional customer service to our community.”
The government put on a large production for Karisch’s appearance. On display outside the building were a gunboat, a Border Patrol motorcycle and an armored, military-style vehicle fitted with radar and sensors.
Action-flick-style music overlaid videos of Border Patrol agents riding down rough terrain with weapons in hand, handcuffing immigrants to a house and agents sending a dog after a migrant who was running away.
In his address, Karisch acknowledged preparations for building a border wall are under way in some parts of the Rio Grande Valley. But he did not give any specifics about when and where the wall will be built.
Though Rio Grande Valley communities are some of the safest in the nation – with layers of municipal, county, state and federal law enforcement concentrated at the border — Karisch focused on threats to the region and the nation if the border is not secured.
“Some people do have a false sense of hope that there’s nothing going on down here,” he said at one point, after noting immigrant apprehensions have increased 84 percent in recent months compared to the previous year. Annual arrests, however, have plunged since peaking in 2000.
“While the majority of our drugs do cross into our country at the land ports of entry, it is important you understand we also receive drugs being smuggled between them,” he said.
Federal data show the amount of drugs smuggled between ports of entry is low. In fiscal year 2018, 47,945 pounds of cocaine were seized at ports of entry, compared to 6,423 pounds between the ports.
Cecilia Roy, a Brownsville-based member of ACLU Texas, asked if the agency had plans to require Border Patrol agents to wear body cameras.
Karisch said the agency still was testing them, hadn’t figured out how it would store the video and was “not prepared to roll those out” yet.
Scott Nicol, a local Sierra Club member and leader of its borderland team, called the event “insignificant” for not giving the community members additional specifics about the wall.
“Not only do they need to provide those affected with more information, they need to be engaged with community members and stakeholders when they’re making the plans,” he said.
Nicol wants to know what the plan is for the animals whose habitat will be affected, and how the government will erect a wall in Starr County’s floodplain without exacerbating flooding.
Karisch said that sometimes, the community’s missions conflict with one another, but that he’s committed to being transparent with the public.
“We have been adding infrastructure at critical areas of the border for decades,” he said. “I also recognize there are citizens with protected lands on our border that we will have to seek alternative solutions, while still providing border security.”