By Steve Taylor

SAN JUAN, Aug. 3 – La Unión del Pueblo Entero leaders will meet tomorrow to consider what legal options are available to stop what they believe is the harassment of colonia residents by Border Patrol.

The group has invited Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and the South Texas Civil Rights Project to participate.

“We are disappointed that CBP feels the need to harass local residents and make their lives even more difficult than they already are,” said Juanita Valdez-Cox, executive director of LUPE.

Valdez-Cox said her organization has received dozens of calls from members reporting a heightened presence by Border Patrol agents in colonias and at local commercial outlets.

“People are feeling very uncomfortable now. Everyone, documented and undocumented alike, is feeling oppressed and is losing the freedom to move about and conduct their daily lives without worry,” she said.

A spokesman for Border Patrol told Univision that the agency has not stepped up its operations in the Rio Grande Valley. However, Valdez-Cox said her group has heard through “indirect channels” that Border Patrol has increased its presence in the colonias and commercial centers because fewer immigrants are crossing the river during the flooding. In other words, the agents have more time to go after residents living in the Valley because there is less activity on the Rio Grande itself.

“One thing is very clear to us: CBP is profiling local residents, not by race but by class. They certainly have not been bothering people in North McAllen. Perhaps we should tell folks to shop there,” Valdez-Cox said.

An immigrant who wished to remain anonymous contacted the Guardian on Monday evening to say there was a heavy Border Patrol presence at Junior’s Supermarket in Las Milpas. There were other reports of Border Patrol agents at H-E-B and Wal-Mart stores in the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo area.

“Our community is being terrorized and it is illegal,” said the colonia resident who wished to remain nameless.

Last week, at a prayer vigil in San Juan, LUPE members reported increased Border Patrol activity in the Mid Valley cities of Mercedes, Weslaco and Donna.

Valdez-Cox said LUPE needs to explore all legal options with groups such as Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and the South Texas Civil Rights Project. “We will explore a range of actions available to the community and develop an action agenda going forward. One item sure to be adopted is to seek a meeting with the CBP sector chief where we can ask for an explanation of their recent activities,” she said.

Valdez-Cox said there is only one real solution to “this entire mess.” She said Congress must address comprehensive immigration reform. “Everyone agrees that our system is broken. We are living in the 21st Century but our immigration system is stuck in the 19th century. Both Democrats and Republicans have a responsibility and an obligation to this nation to fix an immigration system that is a complete mess. Only then will the growing oppression along the border be rolled back so families can live their lives in peace and security,” Valdez-Cox said.

LUPE’s prayer vigil last week was held in protest at SB 1070, the tough new immigration law passed by the state of Arizona. A 40-year-old mother and her 19-year-old daughter, both from Edinburg, spoke to reporters at the event. However, they said they did not want their names given out or their photos taken.

The mother and daughter were stopped by Border Patrol at about 6.30 a.m. on June 1 in Val Verde Road in Donna on their way to work at a tomato packing plant. They were asked for their documents which they could not provide. They were immediately taken to a Border Patrol office.

“We were asked to sign volunteer exit forms but my mom refused,” said the daughter, who was born in Mexico but spoke perfect English. “She refused to sign for about four and a half hours but she had to sign in the end because they threatened to send my younger sisters to Child Protective Services.”

The younger daughters are nine and six and were born in the United States. Within 30 minutes of signing the volunteer exit forms, the mother and daughter were taken to the Mexican side of the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge. They stayed with friends for four days before crossing the Rio Grande again on a small boat.

“We do not want to live in Mexico. Everything is here; this is my life. I do not know anything about Mexico,” said the daughter, who is hoping to become a registered nurse.

“I got good grades at school and though I do not have a social security number I hope to become a nurse,” the daughter said. Asked what message she would like to send to the elected officials in Washington, the teenager said: “Pass immigration reform. Give something to the Mexicans, the Dream Act, something to help our education.”

Article source: http://www.riograndeguardian.com/rggnews_story.asp?story_no=19

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