Diary of a Mad Brown Woman

Congressman Tancredo (R-Colorado) joined Congressman Ortiz in Brownsville on Tuesday for a joint committee meeting regarding the proposed fence building to attempt to curb illegal immigration (amongst other things) in the area.

Not surprisingly, Tancredo was met with a rather cold reception with his known favoritism towards building the fence. “It really isn’t a border to most of us who live down here” said Betty Perez local activist. No need to guess which side she’s advocating.

Now, on the not so stereo-typical side, you’ve got me to give you some insight into uber minority: the endangered Republican Female Mexican American immigrant --- who came to this country legally. Thank you very much. Hold all applause please.

I was born in Juarez Mexico in the state of Chihuahua. I was adopted by my Mexican American parents and brought to this country. They put me on a path to citizenship from the moment I got here; it took fifteen years before I would become an American citizen. I value my citizenship and the rights that go along with that and hold them in the highest regard. It pains me to see people like Ms. Perez who I lived virtually next to for years display their ignorance.

I grew up in McAllen located in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). I lived with the border situation all my life. I’ve had family in law enforcement that have had to deal with hundreds of cases of drug smuggling and encounters with the Mexican Mafia and other crime organizations that stem out of Mexico. Additionally, I’ve had family in the Border Patrol who dealt with the immigrant situation for years.

I do not have an issue with “keeping the Mesicans out”, but there is a legal way to come into this country and if you can’t honor or respect the basic laws to enter into this country what grounds do we have to believe that you’ll respect the rule of law that governs us while you’re here? I know all about the standard of living in Mexico---my birth mother was a bar-maid with 8-10 kids all from different fathers. My birth-father was a dope fiend. So I get the desire to attain a better quality of life.

I moved to San Antonio about 5 years ago. I haven’t been back to McAllen in about 4 years because I couldn’t stand to see how bad things got down there. Now, as much as I love the taquerias on every corner, what I don’t like is being required to speak Spanish at every major store I went to in order to get what I needed from that establishment. I grew up speaking Spanish. In fact, I am tri-lingual, but that’s entirely beside the point. I stopped refer to McAllen as McAllen, and called it what it was: Northern Mexico.

No a fence isn’t the end all be all of illegal immigration, but it will help to curb the smuggling of immigrants into the nation as well as illegal narcotics. The fence will not “alienate people and businesses who live and work between the wall and the border” as Rev. Raymundo Pena suggests. The same people and business will continue to exist and the cultural diversity will continue to be ever-present and to argue against that fact is ludicrous. The people who live there typically are rather conservative given the religious beliefs. However, they have been indoctrinated by party that wants to keep them where they are and shelter them from progressing in order to keep their votes. That’s the ol’ “Democrats are for the poor” mentality.

The fence isn’t being constructed to keep all Mexicans out forever. It’s being constructed to help stop the amount of illegal narcotics coming into our country that will eventually find its way into the hands of our children and later go on to fund terrorism. Narco-terrorism is now one of the most effective tactics being used today. The fence is there to see that the people who do come to our country do it safely and legally.

Congratulations to Tancredo for managing to go into the lions den and coming out alive. .