‘Just a normal day’ on the front lines
Border Patrol agents with boots on the ground are caught in the middle
ON THE U.S.-MEXICAN BORDER NEAR MCALLEN, Texas – Border Patrol Agent Marcelino Medina was barely 30 minutes into his morning shift when his Motorola car radio crackled: A group of 14 immigrants was spotted nearby, entering the United States without permission.
They were the first of more than 50 such immigrants Medina intercepted during a routine shift Tuesday. Many of them were parents with small children, who were separated as a result of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy.
“Just a normal day,” Medina said as he drove his muddied Border Patrol SUV down winding dirt roads along the Rio Grande.
The debate over whether the United States should separate families that cross into the nation without permission has roiled the country. Advocates and some lawmakers angrily denounced the practice, while some White House officials said it’s necessary to ensure the rule of law.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday designed to end the practice of separating families. Questions remained on how the more
“It’s a game of hide-and-seek. The person hiding always has the advantage. They’re always watching us.” Marcelino Medina Border Patrol agent
than 2,300 children who have been separated since May would be reunited with their parents.
Wedged in the middle of the debate are agents with Customs and Border Protection, or the Border Patrol, who are tasked with picking up the immigrants near the border and often are the first ones to notify them they’ll soon be separated from their children.
The Rio Grande Valley Sector, headquartered in McAllen, Texas, is the busiest Border Patrol sector in the nation for apprehending undocumented immigrants. This fiscal year, through May, agents have intercepted 36,745 families crossing without authorization. The second-busiest sector was Yuma, Arizona, which had 8,775 apprehensions.
Tuesday, Medina’s first intercept was a group of nine adults and five children, 8 months to 12 years old. The immigrants came from Honduras and Guatemala and had crossed the Rio Grande. They sat quietly in the shade of a concrete overpass. Their clothes were dirty from the 1,400-mile journey they made from their countries. Some had been on the road for several months.
The Border Patrol agents asked the immigrants where they were from, jotted down their names and asked if they needed water. Because they had entered the USA without authorization, the adults would be charged with a federal misdemeanor and separated from their children while their cases were processed. (Trump’s executive order hadn’t been signed.) Most said they were hearing this for the first time.
“It’s not right to separate the families,” said Yolanda Ramos, 27, of Honduras as she cradled her 8-month-old daughter, Angie, in one arm. “We are coming here to have a better future. They can’t separate us. It’s very sad.”
They were told to put all personal belongings in plastic bags stamped “Homeland Security” and had their shoelaces and belts removed to prevent them from harming themselves. They were patted down, boarded onto large buses and driven to a processing center.
Just before noon, Medina’s radio echoed with an urgent call: “We got a runner!” Most immigrants in this sector quietly surrender to Border Patrol units, opting to place their fate in the U.S. asylum system. Others – often smugglers or scared immigrants – try to flee from the armed guards.
At a cornfield near Granjeno, Texas, Medina abruptly parked his car and ran into the muddy rows of corn stalks after the suspect as a Marine helicopter circled overhead and radioed the suspect’s location. After a short chase, the suspect was caught and taken into custody. The “runner” was part of a group of 13 immigrants who crossed the nearby Rio Grande: Seven were taken into custody; the other six were on the run.
“It’s a game of hide-and-seek,” Medina said as he drove through winding, muddy trails near the river. “The person hiding always has the advantage. They’re always watching us.”
As he drove around a bend, he suddenly came onto a group of 32 immigrants tromping along the muddy road. The foreigners, some of them clutching infants and small children, stopped and sheepishly waited for instructions. When Medina brought out a case of bottled water, they all rushed in to grab one.
Among them was Humberto Umul, 35, who made the 1,300-mile trek from Chimaltenango, Guatemala, to the U.S.Mexican border with his son, Juan Carlos, 16. Umul said the recent eruption of Volcan de Fuego in Guatemala left his hometown in ruins. He came to the USA to find a better future for his son, he said.
Like many of the migrants that day, he said he was not aware that families were separated at the border. “We’re poor. That’s why we decided to come,” Umul said.
He nodded to the Border Guard agents. “Thank God they welcomed us nice,” he said. “We pray that God continues to help us.”
Umul and the others were taken into SUVs in small groups and ferried to a processing center to decide their fate.