31. July 2008 by Tony Magana.

The recent strike in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas of Hurricane Dolly has brought necessary attention again to the condition of the levees along the Rio Grande River. The Lower Rio Grande Flood Control Project was first built in 1932 as a joint venture between the United States and Mexico as protection for both countries borders areas from extreme flooding. Extensive flooding occurred following the last major hurricane to hit the area in 1967 (Beulah) which resulted in improvements in the system. Since the 1990’s sophisticated technology has surveyed the condition of the levees with the most recent report being published in June 2003.

All the studies have agreed that the current status of the flood project on both sides of the border would not meet the standards of a 100 year flood level which is the intended standard. Changes in the vegetation of the flood plains, agricultural use of land, population, as well as decay of the mostly clay based levees has resulted in the progressive decline over time of the potential effectiveness of the levee system in preventing flooding. Hurricane Dolly was a poor test because it was only at its peek a Category 2 storm which quickly became a tropical depression. A major hurricane would cause severe flooding along at least 38 miles of the river.

The costs of repairing and upgrading the levee system start at least 125 million dollars according the Commissioner Carlos Marin of the International Boundary and Water Commission which oversees the levees. Local Valley Congressmen including Rueben Hinojosa have been unsuccessful in their attempts to garner Federal funding for the necessary levee repair. The Hidalgo County Water District and other entities have tried to raise local funds on the order of about 38 million dollars for repairs by selling bonds even though the levee itself is a Federal responsibility.

Senator John Cornyn who visited the Valley right after Hurricane Dolly struck in April of 2008 proposed Senate Bill 2832 which would authorize the International Boundary and Water Commission to reimburse State and local governments for expenses incurred by such governments in designing, constructing, and rehabilitating the Lower Rio Grande Valley Flood Control Project. This bill currently is waiting to be evaluated by the Senate Foreign Relations committees which includes Senator Barack Obama who is supposed to be the key person in determining when and if ever it gets heard.

While no action has been taken for funding of the levee system by the Federal government after years of demonstrating a need, the Federal government did speedily pass legislation for a 50 billion dollar expenditure for a border fence which would pass through area for which both Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Obama voted. Local government officials have tried to combine rebuilding the levee system with the border fence idea to which the the Federal government has been favorable but not willing to foot the bill.

It is time for Mr. Obama to start going to his Senate Foreign Relations committee meetings and pay attention to a real need he has been ignoring. If the levees are not repaired and a major hurricane hits the Rio Grande Valley another Katrina scenario could be seen that was totally preventable by Mr. Obama. The local government should be lauded for trying to improve the situation but this is really a Federal matter of urgency. We support Senator Cornyn in his efforts.

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29. July 2008 by Tony Magana.

The development of Hispanic or Latino Spanish language media in the United States has allowed our culture to flourish in a multi-cultural society. Without this development, no doubt, Latino culture in the United States would have been stymied and suppressed in trying to compete with interests from the larger overall community. But at the same time it is necessary to look what impact are Latinos having on the larger community to which they ultimately belong.

Now with less than 100 days before the Presidential elections all the English media is buzzing with commentary and discussion. If you watch national television on any channel you will see the usual Anglo-American reporters or commentators male and female about 66% of the time and African American reporters or commentators about 33% of the time based upon my own informal stats done this week. Neither the Obama or McCain campaigns ever seems to put forward a Hispanic surrogate to speak for their campaigns. National recognized elected Hispanic leaders of which there are really very few have been conspicuously absent from the media except for the brief appearance of Governor Richardson when he switched loyalty from Clinton to Obama weeks ago. The only Hispanic reporters regularly seen now are Rick Sanchez on CNN on late weekend nights who usually talks incoherently about non issues and Geraldo Rivera who talks about crime and sensational issues. According to the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Latino’s make up only 4% of reporters of newsroom personnel at daily English language newspapers and only 6% of personnel at TV news stations. They have launched a parity project with leading nationwide corporate owners to improve this disparity. Freedom Communications, Inc. which has a monopoly on all the print newspapers in South Texas with a 90% Hispanic population does not participate in this program.

So-called Hispanic issues have been pigeon-holed into really just immigration. The English media today whether its conservative Fox News or liberal MSNBC both portray this in an “us against them” theme. A recent GAO study falsely reported that Hispanics were under represented in government because they were usually not citizens and not educated. Today Hispanics are more often on the defensive when in the news than being seen as innovative or contributory.

The most prominent Hispanic leaders in government on the national scene have all been demoted, criticized, or at least stopped from further progress up the ladder. An Attorney General and a General in the Army who grew up in Laredo have been tarred and feathered without any support from the Latino community. No discussion is being held at all by either Republicans or Democrats of considering any Hispanics for candidates for Vice-President or even for a position on the United States Supreme Court. Hispanics do not hold any significant leadership positions in the Congress such as Speaker or Majority leader. No Hispanic holds Chairmanship of any significant Congressional committee. The Hispanic Caucus of Congress gets no serious attention from the media or the major parties.

Certainly we are are appropriately a diverse group but at the same time within our diversity we seem to giving blind loyalty to either Republican or Democratic concerns without demanding any return on our investment. We are the largest minority group in the country but somehow we now have the smallest voice. We have greatly improved our communication amongst ourselves but in doing so may have isolated ourselves from the larger community.

There needs to be greater participation in English language media by Hispanics. There is no reason for us to be in Spanish language media alone. We have to communicate better with larger society or the trends to isolation and misunderstanding will only continue to propagate. We need to demand more places in the seats of leadership in government and English language media. Separate but equal did not work for the African-American community and it will not work for us.

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25. July 2008 by Tony Magana.

There has been much attention lately to tragedies involving criminal illegal aliens who have been convicted of a crime and yet still remain in the United States. Many critics have pointed fingers at state and local governments rather than the Federal government. Who is to blame?

In 2004, the Inspector General’s Office Report of January 2007  reported that 262,105 illegal aliens were incarcerated in the United States. Out of that group nearly 73 percent would be arrested again with a six time average rate of re-arrest. There is a program called SCAAP (State Criminal Alien Assistance Program) from the Federal government to assist state and local governments which was spending about 287 million dollars a year as recently as 2004. SCAAP provides federal payments to states and localities that incurred correctional officer salary costs for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens who have at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions for violations of state or local law, and who are incarcerated for at least 4 consecutive days during the reporting period.

The report mentioned above found that between 2001 and 2004 about 8 percent of criminal illegal aliens were released by local authorities who should have been put in federal custody. Most importantly the report noted that the majority of those released from local jails or state prisons was not because the local agency had a lack of resources. The DHS Inspector General went on to state, “additionally, DRO’s (DRO stands for detention and removal operations) ability to detain and remove illegal aliens with final orders of removal is impacted by: (1) the propensity of illegal aliens to disobey orders to appear in immigration court; (2) the penchant of released illegal aliens with final orders to abscond; (3) the practice of some countries to block or inhibit the repatriation of its citizens; and (4) two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions which mandate the release of criminal and other high-risk aliens 180 days after the issuance of the final removal order except in ‘Special Circumstances.’ Collectively, the bed space, personnel and funding shortages coupled with the other factors, has created an unofficial ‘mini-amnesty’ program for criminal and other high-risk aliens.It is estimated that DRO would need an additional 34,653 detention beds, at an estimated cost of $1.1 billion, to detain and remove [them]”

Thus the real problem to this issue is not that local and state communities are not enforcing the law but that the Federal government has no place to put them. This is the same issue that was brought up by a guest writer for Contempo Magazine, Daryl Rambo, a retired Border Patrolman of 20 years service, who said the real issue with illegal aliens was housing. Local jails and prisons may not like to house Federal prisoners because this makes them come under another more stricter sets of rules and regulations. In addition most correction facilities receive a fixed per diem funding from the state for their population which does not include Federal prisoners who have completed their local or state sentences. Clearly these criminals need to go to Federal detentions facilities before they are released back into society after completing their sentence.

Repatriation of criminal aliens is not a speedy process. False identity and false claims of country of origin are very common and hard to verify. Most countries are not anxious to have a criminal returned. There is no international database available for identifying many of these individuals.

There is no easy answer to this problem. Certainly illegal aliens who commit heinous crimes should receive the full punishment available under the law. Many fear that too rapid a deportation without full investigation of illegal aliens will allow them to escape prosecution for other offences they may have committed . At the same time, illegal aliens who have committed violent crimes should not be allowed to be released back into the general population upon fulfillment of their sentence. Unfortunately, due to difficulties in identifying their true country of origin or in getting that country to accept them they will have to be put in a detention facility until they can be deported. This will require significant funding and cost the American taxpayer.

However once they are detained after already having served time for their criminal sentence many ethical questions naturally arise. How long should a criminal be detained who cannot be deported? Should all criminals be detained for life if no deportation is possible or should there be a review process or rehabilitation process? Should the United States use forcible repatriation? Some will question if it is really ethical to detain a criminal who has served his/her time? Should repeat criminal alien offenders be labeled as habitual criminals and be given special life sentences?

This group represents a small group of the overall immigrant population but it has the worst effect on our country. This is the area where major Federal dollars and manpower should be spent. Building fences or penalizing employers of legitimate businesses will not stop drug gangs or thugs. The Latino community needs to visibly back full enforcement and funding of programs involving the detention of illegal aliens who have committed violent crimes not only because its the right thing to do but also because they are usually the victims of these criminals.

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