Posted on 05/22/2008 4:38:02 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
GALVESTON — Saying he wanted to “drive a stake through the heart of a misapprehension which is out there,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Border Patrol checks will not bog down Rio Grande Valley or other hurricane evacuations.
“Instructions to the Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection are clear,” Chertoff said in a statement out of Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington. “They are to do nothing to impede a safe and speedy evacuation of a danger zone.
“Now, obviously, the laws don't get suspended, but it does mean that our priorities are to make sure we can move traffic along quickly.”
State and local officials reacted with dismay last week when the Border Patrol confirmed it would be checking documents of people boarding evacuation buses and passing through checkpoints out of the Valley.
Many in the Valley have families with one or more unauthorized immigrants, and county leaders and clergy have said those families will not evacuate for fear loved ones will be separated and deported.
Chertoff didn't address the bus checks, but he said the impression that each and every car would be stopped at the checkpoint was “simply not true.”
Chertoff's statement, released Tuesday, came as Rio Grande Valley officials are attending a statewide hurricane planning conference in Galveston.
Jack Colley, chief of the Governor's Division of Emergency Management, read a letter by the chief of the Rio Grande Valley sector at the top of an evacuation briefing Wednesday morning.
“Simply put: the Border Patrol will continue to be a full partner with the state of Texas and its communities in any emergency or evacuation situation,” Chief Patrol Agent Ronald Vitiello wrote in a letter addressed to “residents of the Rio Grande Valley.”
“Our primary role in such events will be the safeguarding of life,” Vitiello wrote. “No enforcement role will be undertaken that will in any way impede the safe and orderly evacuation of any member of the South Texas population.”
The Border Patrol has said it can't neglect its role for fear of a free-for-all of undocumented immigrants and drug traffickers trying to push beyond the Valley.
“We know that criminal organizations view the disruption of a natural disaster as a potential opportunity to move illicit traffic across our borders, and it is important that they and you know that we will not leave the border undefended in time of crisis,” Vitiello said. “But assisting other federal, state and local agencies to ensure the safety of those requiring evacuation is paramount.”
The checkpoints out of the Valley are about 75 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border on both U.S. 77 and U.S. 281.
Since U.S. 77 runs along the coast and may be closed as a hurricane advances, that leaves U.S. 281 to handle the bulk of evacuation traffic for a region of about 1.5 million people.
Both state and local officials have urged the Homeland Security Department to suspend checkpoint activity during a hurricane.
Vitiello's letter made no mention of suspending checkpoints or document checks, but officials said it was a clear indication the Border Patrol wouldn't let policy stand in the way of moving people out of a “kill” or “inundation” zone.
“So I think that pretty well does it,” Colley, the state emergency management chief, said after reading the letter to Valley officials.
Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas, who Tuesday gave part of a presentation on hurricane preparedness, called the letter “a start.”
But he said people already had heard about document checks and wouldn't risk evacuation buses or car trips north.
“I think it's a good first step,” he said. “It's a good opportunity for us to sit down. I think the Border Patrol is going to help us. ... But the damage has been done.”
Hurricane season begins June 1.
Valle Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.