Monday, October 15, 2012

Real Border Wars!!!

I have had this EMScallthat has been irking me for 2 weeks now, the backdrop is along the Texas/Mexico Border where the Rio Grande River skirts the Nuevo Laredo{mex}and Laredo{us}cities. Now the former President Bush already knew of the escalating hostility along the border with Cartel leaders and Zeta rewards posted along the river for any US Official with a badge on.For this reason all Night operations fall under Federal Jurisdiction along the river

So one day I am assigned to 9109 and we are dispatched to the riverbanks in the Rancho Viejo subdivision,so my partner and I go. We arrive and find 3 children cold and shivvering at the very first house off a deadend street that goes right into the water of the Rio Grande. Once again, I must tell you that my spainish is piss poor to horrible as is my ability to decipher,.... Really, I like to call it the devil language to piss off my coworkers because its all they ever seem to speak in my presence. So I wrap the kids in blankets and ask the owners of the house to give me the lowdown on the kids. The owners of the house say that these kids walked over from the river all wetsoaked crying that their mother was washed away and they pointed to the direction she went which was down river. So I get on the dispatch radio and request to Central Fire Station to Launch the Rescue boat and look for a female who has gone downstream. Over the radio and suddenly, my EMS supervisor, countermands my request and requests the rescueboat to stand down. He arriver shortly thereafter as well as Border Patrol who has some hot chocolate for the kids and they want to know the story again which i already got,but it wasnt from the kids because I stupidly thought they all spoke spainish..... the eldest lil girl was 9 years old and she utters.."Sir, My mother went that way and is anyone going to go for her?". I am shocked that this child speaks english so fluently that I am still befuddled to this day... To all of our dismay we look at one another and again I ask my superviser, Why arent we going to dispatch the rescue boat? His response was that it was 15 minutes til sundown and by the time they got to our location and launched it would be time for them to come back. He was referring to the mandate that stated to all government entities that Homeland Security had now jurisdiction along the river at night because of the growing hostilities along the river so tonight their mother would have to hang tight against a branch and hope she didint get hypothermia and die overnight because Homeland Security hadnt allocated the funds for a recue boat for night operations, so the next day at first light it would deemed a body recovery....... Wait, Wait , Wait a godam minute I said, your both telling me that these kids mom is not even going to be searched for until tomorrow? My Supervisor says in a raised voice towards me," Tovar, are your pts in need of further assistance from EMS?". "No,they are a still a little hypothermic but they will be okay" I said. " Well then they are my problem now," the Border Patrol agent said to my left.. To which I now asked ," Well, whats going to happen to these kids now ?" ... My Super barks at me and says,"Tovar, thats none of your concern because they are no longer your pts and its rude to step on other agencies toes like you are doing."..............This is where, I get pissed.!!!! " MUTHER *UCKIN< *UCK YOU, AND *UCK HIM," "Whats going to happen to these kids?" Now the agent says calmly that they will be processed and kicked back across bridge #1 in abt two hours or so. The kids now hearing all of this start crying and the 6 yo girl says, can someone call my dad in san antonio.. he is a painter who lives off Culebra road and his cell number is %^*#&**&(*/ so I tell my super if I can do that for these kids to which he utters," Tovar, You can consider yourself on sick leave after this call because you have gotten to emotionally close to this call to be effective at your job." "GOD sent me to this call and it is god that compels me to always do the right thing.... So I absolutely did get back to the station and go on sick leave,but in the parking lot i called the kids dad and told him to get his ass to Nuevo Laredo bridge #1 that his children were about to be probably sold into the child sex trade or used as slaves because they just lost their mother tonight. What would yall have done? I am open to suggestions.... any takers???? Is there no1????

5 comments:

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    1. Well, I am not quite sure? I did mention to him that I did not how he got to this country and I still believe it isn't mine to judge, but I did tell him that his 2 daughters and young son were being temporarily detained at the Laredo port of entry and he had about two hours before they finished processing them and sent them back across bridge 1 into Nuevo Laredo. I ultimately left the firestation and drove back home.

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    2. i want to say that I tried to just be an advocate for these children but the system doesnt see them as children who just lost their mother, instead the system sees them as 3 immigrants who are crossing illegaly who need to be fingerprinted, photographed and sent back to their country of origin.

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  2. The point is that they shouldn't have even been crossing in the first place. No matter the age or situation it's still illegal. If the dad isn't an American citizen I can guarantee you that he will be sent back to Mexico. There was nothing that you could do to help those kids. You have no idea how much trouble YOU could have gotten in if you had done anything to help those kids.

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    1. victoria, as much as I know where you are coming from.. Who would not acknowledge that these children ages 5,6, and 9 don't fully understand border issues the way you and I do. When you are in that age group, you know only one thing in life and that is that your mom or dad are your safety blankets. When a traumatic event like that happens to a child; I know you nor your father could possibly comprehend the end results that likely awaited these children when they were kicked back across the bridge after they were processed by bp. There are actually scouts on the other side awaiting such children to be sent over so they can be scooped up and sold into the sex trade or be sold to shop owners as slave labor or even worst. Who could not understand that these kids need an advocate on this side; a representative to insure that those types of things don't happen to them?

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