Commentary piece by Michael Robinson
Picture by Robinson
06-13-25
Forward: As the editor of the Uvalde Hesperian, I seldom write commentary pieces as I feel other voices need to he heard more than mine.
During President Joe Biden’s administration, southern border states like Texas saw undocumented migrants cross the U.S. / Mexico Border by the thousands each day. Working as an independent journalist based in Uvalde, I visited the U.S. Mexico Border at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass several times and saw the park transform into a militarized zone with rolls and rolls of razor-sharp concertina wire unfurled along the U.S, Side of the River and flat-bottomed patrol boats powered by large fans zooming along the Rio Grande River. Before Texas Governor Abbott had called in the National Guard and Texas DPS to occupy Shelby Park, I saw dozens of migrants pass within a few feet from where I was standing. Along the ground, lay discarded backpacks, clothing, water bottles etc. I even found an ID from a man from a Central American Country.
Back in Uvalde, I remember when former Homeland Security Head Alejandro Mayorkas visited the Border Patrol Station in Uvalde.
Migrants were found on Union Pacific train cars and a sort of “catch and release” program was basically the routine.
A friend of mine who had some acreage property in Zavala County said she and her husband would sit in the front yard on the tailgate of their pickup truck watching high speed chases and bailouts in the evening. In essence, the Biden administration had a de facto Open Border Policy in place.
With Former President Donald Trump winning the 2024 Presidential Election, under his administration, the U.S, Immigration Policy made a massive shift away from Biden’s “catch and release” Now, Immigration and Customs Enforcement seems to have Saber Tooth Tiger teeth.
And like history, the teeth are red in tooth and claw.
Meanwhile, the reaction from many of President Trump’s MAGA supporters is similar to the cheers at the HoneyBowl when the Uvalde Coyotes score a touchdown.
It is reported that uniformed and Plain Clothes Wearing ICE Agents are stopping and taking suspected non-citizens in custody with a destination to who knows where. Yesterday, United States Democratic Senator Alex Padilla of California was removed by force from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem‘s Los Angeles news conference and then manhanded to the ground by several officers.
Why? For merely wanting to ask a question.
Things have gotten so extreme that several European Countries have issued travel advisories for their citizens considering visiting the U.S. for a vacation.
Why? Maybe because ICE might decide to detain and interrogate the traveler for some nebulous reason?
There is a saying that a sheriff or a governing official can be tough on crime and light on justice.
For those that think things couldn’t take an extreme turn, try reading. “The Trial” by Franz Kafka. Or how about the Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Another unfortunate problem is many Americans are ignorant of their Constitutional Rights afforded by the Bill of Rights.
Then there is the Post WWII war era and the East German Stasi who surreptitiously and covertly spied on the East German citizens trapped behind the Berlin Wall.
Governing from the extremes is like driving a car at 90 miles per hour. It’s a trill for a while until the car loses control and you happen to be a passenger. People say that heavy handed government police state couldn’t happen in the United States, or could it?
