July 16 2013 - Border Policy: Ex. Dir. Don Reay Texas Border Ranchers June 29, 2013

DON REAY – EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF TEXAS SHERIFFS BORDER COALITION

Interview with Nancy Dale on border security

STATEMENT #2 – June 29, 2013

BIO OF DON REAY:

 

“My background is almost 40 years in law enforcement as a Border Patrol Agent, a Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent, as a Special Agent with the U. S. Customs Service retiring as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge; as a Training Director for El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Regional Training Academy while serving six counties in West Texas, and as a consultant to U. S. Customs and the National Drug Intelligence Center. My specialty has been, and is, working within task force and coalition environments.

 

The Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition was organized on May 4, 2005, and is represented by the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of each respective county. Texas Sheriffs, empowered by the state constitution, are committed, from a national security perspective, to protect lives, property, and the rights of the people, maintain order and security in the United States along the Republic of Mexico border, enforce the law impartially, and provide police service in partnership with other law enforcement agencies and community partners. This is the Mission of the Coalition.”

Don Reay recently attended a summer conference in Charlotte, North Carolina and met with the Immigration and Border Security Committee and the  Congressional Affairs Committee working on a revision of the National Sheriff’s Association position paper on Immigration.  He has participated, directed many conferences in his 40 years of law enforcement as well as programs in U.S. Customs and the Border Patrol.  He participated in a recent border security study group under “AIPAC,” an Israeli lobbying group in Washington, D.C.  The Israeli government invites various groups to their country to explore international concerns.  (Highlands County, Florida Sheriff Susan Benton was also in attendance.)

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: 

(Due to the overload of information regarding Immigration Reform and Border Security issues in Congress, the difficulty of sorting out and attempting to understand the language and intricacies is difficult.  Included in Statement #2, Don Reay provides a few definitions and background info for further clarity. See Statement #1, June 26, 2013 on this blog for first part of interview.   ND)

BORDER PATROL TRAINING: 

Although this information is constantly changing as new bills are introduced, the Senate bill that passed this week proposes an increase in Border Patrol personnel from 20,000 to 40,000 at an estimated cost of $62 million and adding more fencing from 350 miles to 700 miles.  (THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE MEX/US BORDER FROM ARIZONA TO CALIFORNIA IS APPROXIMATELY 1,969 miles.  Motorized vehicle patrols are prohibited along the border on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) i.e. national parks and federal land. (See pictures on the blog of 2 “Warning Signs” posted for visitors at the Coronado National Park in Arizona: Note the difference in language on the older sign and on the new one.)

 

“TH E CURRENT “E-VERIFY PROGRAM” USED BY U.S. COMPANIES TO VERIFY CITIZENSHIP OF MIGRANT WORKERS IN ORDER TO HIRE THEM, IS BROKEN.  MEXICAN CARTELS INFILTRATE ILLEGALS WITH MIGRANT WORKERS THROUGH ‘TRANSNATIONAL CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS’ OPERATING IN THE UNITED STATES:

“The present ‘E-Verify Program,’ used by U.S. companies to document and hire legal immigrants is broken, as workers are verified AFTER employment.  If illegal laborers are hired by a U.S. company, unintentionally or intentionally, the company is fined thousands of dollars.”

“Often the Mexican cartels,” says Reay, “infiltrate immigrant workers through cells of Transnational Criminal Organizations” [see detailed definition on the blog].  The cartels help illegals obtain false IDs, social security cards in order to gain employment in the United States. 

The Texas Border Coalition, recommends the implementation of ‘biometrics,’ the use of fingerprinting, using Iris scans, and DNA swabs to cross-reference authenticity of an immigrant as part of the application process for people seeking legal status through a query of the Homeland Security data base and the APHIS (FBI) database.  Most of our Sheriffs are against outsourcing the application process for legal status to non-governmental entities as the responsibility remains a federal function.”

There is discussion that strengthening the Mexican economic infrastructure will provide Mexican citizens with financial opportunities and curtail the flow of illegals into the U.S.  Drugs and human trafficking is an economic engine for Mexico run by the Zeta and Sinaloa cartels. “At one point the U.S., through the MERIDA imitative, allocated $1.4 billion dollars to support the infrastructure in Mexico. There was no accountability as the U.S. was told by Mexican officials that Mexico is a sovereign nation and can spend the money as it chooses.“The Texas Border Sherriff’s Coalition is against these types of programs that give away money with no provisions for accountability.”

THE GUEST WORKER PROGRAM PROPOSAL:

“Legislation is proposed to establish a “Guest Worker Program” and hire migrants in the U.S. for Ag and labor jobs. The Guest Worker Program allows migrants to work in the U.S.,” explains Reay.

“The Guest Worker proposal is based on the BRACERO Program established in the 40’s when there was a shortage of U.S. labor due to WWII.  ‘In the beginning it was a good program,” says Reay “but became mismanaged by government and landowners.  This program was useful to ranchers as many of the greatest cowboys come from Mexico.  It is difficult to find an abundance of  hard working cowboys (ranchands)  in the U.S.”

[“BRACERO” means manual labor.  The BRACERO program was established between Mexico/U.S to provide temporary contract laborers in 1947 and then continued under various other programs through 1964.]

FUNCTIONS OF BORDER PATROL PERSONNEL AND SHERIFF’S OFFICE:

“If a crime has occurred or a person is trespassing on U.S. soil, the Sheriff’s office responds through 911 calls and the Sherriff’s office can make an arrest.  If a suspected illegal is found to be criminally trespassing on private property, the matter is referred to the Border Patrol or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  In Arizona Law 1070, a person suspected of a crime or being an illegal can be legally asked ‘their alienage,’ by the Sheriff’s Office .  The suspect can be detained for a reasonable period until CBP or ICE can determine citizenship.” Reay explains.

“The responsibility of the Sherriff’s Office is to keep the community safe and not dealing with immigration. The Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition is interested in law enforcement and economics in the community: We are an agency of men and women for all seasons. Our organization is comprised of 31 Sheriffs in the 4 Border States to protect the security of their communities.”

“In reference to the Senate bill passed this week, there is a proposal to increase border patrol personnel from 20,000 to 40,000 at a cost of $30 billion.  It costs more than $100 a day to put one Border Patrol officer in place with 5-7 years of training.  It took 7 years to affirm background checks and other requirements to hire additional BP personnel from 7,000 to 20,000 in years past.”

“The Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition recommends strengthening the protection and maintenance of the Northern, Southern, and Maritime borders of the United States.  For example, if you have a leaking water hose and you put a plug in one spot, another leak occurs.  Illegals will switch around to find the weak spot for entry.”