By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Val Verde County Joe Frank Martinez made another appeal to the Biden administration Thursday, demanding help to deal with an ever-growing migrant encampment under the city’s international bridge.
Martinez spoke to members of the media during a press conference held near the international bridge and made his remarks after Del Rio Mayor Bruno “Ralphy” Lozano.
The sheriff spoke first about the federal agents operating the encampment.
“We have our agents here, asking them to do a job that none of you would do, and I mean that. They’re stepping up to the plate,” Martinez said.
He also addressed the plight of the migrants themselves.
“On the other side of the fence, there are men, women and children, all ages, all conditions, pregnant, with medical issues, whatever they might be. These agents are having to deal with those individuals that are there. There’s a humanitarian piece to it also. They’re people of God, also, no matter where they come from, but we’re asking our agents to do a job that nobody here would do, and I know for a fact, because I visit with my son, who is a Border Patrol agent,” Martinez said.
“After (seeing) the conditions that are there, he has to go home to his three kids, as every agent here does. None of these people are tested for anything, for any kind of illness. There are no tests being done for COVID. That’s another thing that’s not even being considered. So you walk down in there, and by you all being up here, you’re not actually, you don’t get the true meaning of what it is like over there,” Martinez added.
“What do you tell your son?” one of the reporters asked.
“I tell him that he has a job to do, and I tell him to keep his head held high,” the sheriff replied.
“But you worry about him,” the reporter said.
“Oh yeah,” Martinez replied.
A podcaster asked Martinez if he felt the cartel had a hand in the current migrant situation under the bridge.
“You know, in my opinion, I think the cartels are controlling part of it. These people that are here, they’re turning themselves in. The people that I worry about are the people that are going around. I think that’s where the bigger issue is because we don’t know what we don’t know. We don’t know what’s going on beyond these fences,” the sheriff replied.
A third reporter told the sheriff he appreciated the city and county officials for speaking to media about the situation.
“Are you aware of any plan by the Department of Homeland Security to do something like this and speak to us? Why do you think we are hearing from you and the mayor and not DHS?” the reporter asked.
“I don’t know what DHS’s plan is, long-term. I think our county judge made a statement (Wednesday night), and I think it put up a bunch of flags that something needed to be done, so this is a result of that, and something is better than nothing because I’ve talked to people in South Carolina. I talked to people in Seattle, Wash., and the majority of the country doesn’t know that this is happening on the southern border. They don’t have a clue, so I hope that you all take this message out and spread it out as far as you can. The administration has to pay attention. They can’t stay sitting on the bench. They need to get in the game,” Martinez said.
“Well, where are they? Why are you here and they’re not?” the reporter asked again.
“I can’t answer for them, and I won’t. Like I said, they need to get in the game because the immigration issue is a federal issue, and we’re here, and I said it this morning and I’ll say it again, I get the feeling, in my opinion, these guys (federal agents) feel abandoned. We’re on our own, so I think the rest of the country has to step up also, and they need to get in the game also,” Martinez said.
“Sheriff, if they (immigrants) decided to leave en masse, so we have enough resources here to stop them?” Joel Langton, publisher of the 830 Times asked.
“Off the record, no,” the sheriff said.
—
Contact the author at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
