Glenn:
At yesterday's breakfast at the Copper Queen hotel, I got to speak to and with Hutchinson, McCain and Kyl and, perhaps even more satisfying to me, I got to speak about Grijalva, in his presence, to a room full of elected officials, dignitaries, Border Patrol supervisors and the press.
I told the group that I was in no way there to represent the ABP, but that I am on the board of directors of that organization, whose members Grijalva had called 'cockroaches', when he labeled it a 'hate group'.
I pointed out that, when residents of a city neighborhood organized 'watch groups', they were praised for their efforts and supported by the authorities and that the ABP was nothing more than a group dedicated to the same end, with the focus on our borders, rather than just our back yards. I told Hutchinson that I felt, after hearing his remarks about 'sealing' the border, that he didn't understand what we meant when we requested that the border be sealed, that all that we wanted stopped were the people sneaking into our country illegally, most across the large remote areas between our official ports of entry, not the legal commerce or anyone with the proper documentation crossing legally.
Hutchinson seems pretty adamant, to my dismay, about not putting the military on the border. He spoke about having arranged for an additional 70 Border Patrol agents to be assigned to the Arizona border this year and I regrettably neglected to ask him if he knew that BP was losing many more agents than that every year. After the breakfast, McCain, at my request, rode alone with me in my Suburban to two other meeting places and we discussed a guest worker program, the military on the border, Mexico's attitude about America, etc. Then, I suppose because I had McCain in my vehicle, I was allowed to attend Aguilar's dog and pony show at the Naco Border Patrol station, where Aguilar's emphasis was, of course, how the apprehension numbers are down, showing that BP must be stemming the flow. He said nothing about the 'got-away' numbers but both Hutchinson and McCain seemed to take note of that.
I was gratified to see, from comments and questions posed by Hutchinson, that he didn't seem to be buying much of Aguilar's presentation. After that, I joined the caravan of vehicles, mostly Border Patrol, which went to a ranch west of Naco, on the border, where we had a picnic lunch, and I was again allowed to speak to Hutchinson, McCain, Kyl and Kolbe, while Grijalva just sat, smoked cigarettes and glowered at me. I told the group, which included all of the above dignitaries, that I was unhappy with Kolbe's micro-management of the Border Patrol, especially his orders that the check points be removed. I stated that I thought that Kolbe simply didn't understand just how the check points had operated and that their absence was allowing thousands of illegals to skate freely by on our highways into the interior of our nation, instead of being pushed into the more remote areas where people like me could see to it that they were apprehended.
He got angry, told me that he didn't want to argue with me then but that he would talk to me about it later.
It, overall, was the best time I have had since the day I first soloed. There really is more but I'll fill you in when next we meet.
Richard Humphries
Board Member
American Border Patrol