Bonilla demands review of OTM release policy
By Karen Gleason
The News-Herald
Published July 31, 2004
Releasing undocumented immigrants to roam freely in the U.S. is "a terrible policy," U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla told Del Rio and Eagle Pass leaders during a press conference in Del Rio Friday, and announced he is asking the Department of Homeland Security to take a hard look at the issue.
"If these people were being released in your neighborhood I am sure you would be outraged. This is happening in the communities I represent and I am outraged," Bonilla said in a letter Thursday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. Bonilla released copies of the letter during his press conference Friday.
More than 5,200 illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico (often referred to as OTMs) have been processed in the Del Rio Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol since January 2004, Bonilla said. Of that number more than 4,400 - about 85 percent - have been subsequently released in the Del Rio Sector.
Bonilla said a total of 15,000 such undocumented immigrants have been released in Texas since the beginning of the year.
Both Del Rio and Eagle Pass are in the Del Rio Sector, as are Abilene, Brackettville, Carrizo Springs, Comstock, Rocksprings, San Angelo and Uvalde.
During the press conference, Bonilla also released a series of photographs, some of them taken in Eagle Pass, he had titled "Free Ticket to America." The series of five photographs depict undocumented immigrants crossing the border and being arrested by Border Patrol agents, then receiving their "walking papers," leaving the detention center and "entering a community near you."
Bonilla said cities like Del Rio and Eagle Pass are at the forefront of the Department of Homeland Security's "Capture and Release" program. Once undocumented OTM immigrants are detained and processed, each is given what Bonilla called "Own Recognizance" or "OR" papers, which give the immigrant the right to stay in the United States until their immigration court hearing.
"It is estimated that more than 85 percent of illegal immigrants released do not return for the scheduled court date," Bonilla said.
The congressman charged that "many illegal immigrants are freely giving themselves up to the Border Patrol and in some cases, seeking out agents so they can receive the OR papers to legally enter the United States."
Bonilla also charged that the OTM release program represents a threat to U.S. security. "Terrorists can take advantage of this policy by posing as a person of South American descent and easily enter the United States," he said.
Bonilla also invited several Del Rio and Eagle Pass community leaders to address the media about the release of OTMs. Those leaders included Del Rio Mayor Dora G. Alcal‡, Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster and Val Verde County Sheriff A. D'Wayne Jernigan.
Alcal‡ praised Bonilla's efforts last year to end the "lateral repatriation" of Mexican immigrants caught along the Arizona-Mexico border through Del Rio and into Ciudad Acu–a, Coah., Mexico.
Alcal‡ also called attention to the humanitarian aspect of the OTM releases. She said a group of Brazilian immigrants released in Del Rio several weeks ago could not speak English or Spanish "and none of us could speak Portuguese."
Jernigan, who originally raised the hue and cry about the releases of the immigrants in September 2003, said the issue is one of both national and community security. He recounted to Bonilla the fear several downtown merchants expressed to him when groups of the Brazilian immigrant tried to cash checks without identification in their places of business. "One business actually closed out of fear," Jernigan said.
The sheriff also introduced Val Verde County Judge Mike L. Fernandez, who read a resolution passed by Val Verde County Commissioners Court earlier this year, calling on the Department of Homeland Security to end the OTM releases.
I started this thread, was trying to figure out just where I wanted to go with this. I have been a little frustrated with this issure lately. I am at the Eagle Pass, Border Patrol Station. I did a quick check on our numbers for July and we had 1006 OTMs apprehended here, almost all of them released into the community. I interviewed one today during processing. He stated he travelled north through Mexico by train. I asked if there were others from Central America coming north on the train with him. He said "one thousand, maybe more".
WE ARE BEING INVADED. Wake up!
