By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez warned the numbers of immigrants crossing into the U.S. from Mexico might skyrocket in the coming months.
Martinez said he believes immigrant numbers will climb to even more unprecedented levels if the U.S. ends Title 42 deportations, which may happen in April.
“Currently, there’s an increase in immigrants coming through. Yesterday (Thursday), the Del Rio (Border Patrol) station was holding 500, and earlier in the week, they were up to 800-900,” Martinez told the 830 Times in an interview Friday.
“The (Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition) is working really hard to move these people out of our community, and my hat’s off to Tiffany (Burrow), because it’s helping keep our community safe, to a certain extent. I know that our citizens are seeing people walking up and down the street, from other countries, and they’re upset, but can you imagine if Tiffany and her volunteers weren’t there to help move these people out? If the transportation wasn’t available? Those 300 or 400 people that are released from Border Patrol to the (coalition) would be walking our streets every day,” Martinez said.
“To me, regardless of what people say, I think (the coalition) and Tiffany are doing a wonderful job in helping us keep our community safe,” the sheriff added.
Burrow told the 830 Times on Thursday that she believes the numbers of immigrants Del Rio will see in 2022 “will make the Haitian incident in 2021 look like a dress rehearsal.”
“I think she’s right,” Martinez said Friday.
“We called the incident with all the Haitians under the bridge a crisis, but if nothing gets done, this is going to be a disaster. If nothing gets done with this administration to correct this situation, to make some attempt to stop the flow, this is going to be a disaster,” he added.
“Our federal partners are overwhelmed. Now, they’re doing everything they can with the resources that they have, and they’re not even putting a dent in it,” Martinez said.
The sheriff once again said the immigrant situation could only be remedied by federal law and policy changes.
“We haven’t had an administration – on either side – who has attempted to truly fix the immigration issue, the immigration laws. They’re broken, and I don’t care what side, those are just empty promises. They’re just words that are spoken, ‘We’re going to fix immigration statutes,’ but nothing’s ever done.
“There’s an old statute that doesn’t allow, for lack of a better term, a smooth process to be in this country legally. It doesn’t. I talked to a Venezuelan man in New York on a phone call last September, and he’d been waiting six or seven years on his immigration hearing. He’s an architect, working in New York, and to me, that’s not reasonable.
“We’re a country of immigrants, and you’ve got to give these people a little hope, a little expectation, that something can be done in a reasonable amount of time, at not a huge expense. To me, it’s just crazy,” Martinez said.
The sheriff also maintains a close working relationship with the Border Patrol and expressed his frustration at the difficulties that agency must deal with.
“It’s wearing on them, because they’re doing all the processing. Earlier this week, they had no agents in the field, so they can’t do their jobs because they’re processing. And it’s upsetting to them, because they took an oath to enforce immigration laws, and they can’t do that. They didn’t sign up to be clerks. They didn’t sign up to be babysitters, even though they’re taking those responsibilities and they’re doing what they have to do,” Martinez said.
He also worried aloud about those immigrants who are evading capture.
“The thing that boggles my mind is, still, is that we don’t know what we don’t know about who’s coming through and who’s getting away, the ‘got-aways.’ That number, I haven’t heard what the number is, of known ‘got-aways,’ but I guarantee you it’s probably going to be double what it was last year,” Martinez said.
The sheriff said he and his deputies do what they can to help out.
“We’re going to stand by our federal partners, and we’re going to do what it takes to get it done. At the same time, I’m taking away some resources from our civil warrants, transport, some of our bailiffs and moving some of that manpower around to plug into some of these areas where Border Patrol is not,” Martinez said, adding he has been sending additional manpower to the border on a weekly basis.
“For me, it’s kind of been a standing order, that whenever help is needed, I’ll send it,” he added.
“This week, I’ve got one deputy who’s been assigned (to border watch duty) all week. He’s a bailiff, but this week the courts are slow, so I said get out there and do what you can,” Martinez said.
Martinez said seeing more and larger groups of immigrants ratchets up his level of concern, both for the citizens he is sworn to protect and the immigrants passing through.
“I worry what will happen if one of these little (immigrant) kids or somebody steps out in front of a car and gets run over? It’s a little concerning. We’re just not used to hundreds of people walking up and down our streets,” he said.
—
Contact the author at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
