By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
County commissioners court members again discussed the ever-evolving immigrant situation again during their most recent meeting.
The court has for months included a discussion of the ongoing situation on every meeting agenda.
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. initiated the discussion by worrying aloud that some changes are underway that may make it more challenging for the immigrants to leave Del Rio. Some of those changes, Owens said, deal with the way personnel at the Stripes convenience store are now handling the immigrants.
Large numbers of immigrants have been sighted at the Stripes at Veterans and 15th Street as they wait to catch Greyhound buses out of town.
“It’s going to get a little more difficult. It’s not going to be as easy – and I’m not trying to say we want to make it easy for them – but if it’s not as easy for them to get out of our county, then it’s going to be harder on us for them to be here. So Stripes has already removed tables. My understanding is they removed the tables at Stripes because they don’t want them there outside anymore, and it’s a little bit harder for them (the immigrants) to buy tickets,” Owens told the court.
“I would say that those individuals that are coming that are going to be released, we are probably going to see them on our streets more than what we’ve seen them in the past, just because of the way that they’re fixing to be handled,” Owens said.
“The NGO (non-governmental organization) here in town sent a text message if we could meet with them because they’re probably going to need help. Again, I don’t know the direction; well, I know the direction the court wants to take. I mean, we’ve helped with chairs, and we even put up a tent down there at one point. We bought containers. But to set up a location, to have the county set up a location for these individuals to be able to buy tickets and to help them in that manner, I would recommend that the court not go down that road,” Owens said.
“It’s like everything else, we open this up, and we’re going to get more of them. It is going to be harder for them out of town, the way it looks right now, with measures that Stripes has done, and the people that we have coming,” the judge added.
“Are they releasing more because of the pending influx that’s coming? It just seems like the releases have been a lot more lately,” County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton asked.
Owens replied during the month of November, the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition was handling “50 to 100 (immigrants) a day, more or less.”
“The last, what I got, text messages, the last couple of days, the last nine days, over 150 per day. I think they hit 165 for a couple of days. That’s what I’ve gotten from the NGO,” Owens replied.
“So the number is, they’re just catching more,” he added.
“So they’re still going to drop them off at Stripes; they’re just not going to be able to sit there,” Nettleton said.
“They’ve been able to drop them off at the NGO, and the NGO, when they get a lot of people coming, then they’re asking for the charter buses to come in. Not that the NGO is paying for them, but they ask for a charter bus, so these people (immigrants) can purchase a ticket. The NGO orders a charter bus, the immigrants purchase tickets, and they get them out,” Owens said.
“At Stripes today, (Greyhound) had the big bus running, so they were able to get everybody out through Greyhound and not have to bring in the charter buses. But the way it looks right now, it looks like they’re going to have to start bringing in the charter buses again, the NGO is,” Owens said.
Nettleton asked about “buses coming from Mexico,” and said it was his understanding that they were “heading to Eagle Pass.”
“Probably, but really, who knows?” Owens answered.
“There’s a high percentage of them going that way, but they might also come here, through Ciudad Acuña. I was told yesterday (Nov. 22) that there are 200 to 300 a day they’re catching,” County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores added.
“And we still have 60,000 waiting in southern Mexico?” Nettleton asked.
Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez said, “That’s what’s being reported.”
“And they’ve worked a deal to travel through Mexico, or some of them have?” Nettleton asked.
“Initially there was a group that did work a deal to travel through Mexico, they were going to have a hearing in Mexico City, but I think that fell through, so I don’t know what the status is of that at this time,” Martinez replied.
“So there will be more of them, and they will be scattered more or less through town, so when they’re on private property, is that considered trespassing?” County Commissioner Pct. 1 Martin Wardlaw asked.
“If it’s posted,” County Attorney David Martinez said from his seat in the audience.
“If it’s posted, then they can be picked up for trespassing,” Owens repeated.
Martinez added there are different forms of notice that can be given.
“If it’s an open tract of land, if there’s no fence and there’s no ‘no trespassing’ signs, can they still be arrested for trespassing?” Flores asked.
“They can be arrested, but they won’t be prosecuted,” Martinez replied.
Owens said since there is no real way to determine how many immigrants are on their way or where they will cross, the only way to tell people when they come is when they are already here.
“We’re not saying it like that, but that’s pretty much the way it is,” he added.
Nettleton also asked about cargo containers Gov. Greg Abbott had ordered placed along the border as sort of a makeshift wall or barrier.
“They were putting them on federal land and did not ask permission,” Owens said.
“Is there any way for us to block off underneath the bridge so they won’t redo the way they did the last time?” Nettleton asked, referring to a September encampment of 15,000 to 20,000 immigrants under the city’s international bridge.
“We are fixing to have conversations with the acting city manager,” Owens replied.
“I almost feel, again, that our hands are tied, and we just keep running into the wall. We’re just not running as fast anymore, ’cause it’s starting to hurt,” Owens said.
The court took no action following the discussion.
—
Contact the author at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
