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Question: I admire your strong sense of responsibility to your job.
I hear, and can respect, that you are comfortable with the right
of a country to maintain and protect its borders. But that sounds
a bit abstract — I'm thinking that living and working in Texas
on the border, you've thought a lot about that "tangled mess
of immigration laws and policy" that you mentioned? What's
your personal take on U.S. immigration policy? Yes, in principle,
we have a right to make this kind of policy, but the next question
is, in practice, how well are we doing?
Dennis: Because we are a democracy our laws reflect the patchwork
process of regional interests. Our immigration laws are one ladleful
of that stew. I doubt that can be rectified. And I don't think we
would want too potent a cure.
You led with "in principle." It implies, or infers
to my reading of it, that this "kind of policy" works
on paper — this right of ours — but it doesn't work in
the flesh and blood of life. I don't believe the statement needs
a preface. You and I, and every other citizen within this nation,
have a right to elect officials and pass legislation; to govern
ourselves unconditionally.
How are we doing? A week or so after September 11th the city of
Laredo held a service, which my wife and I attended, for the victims,
the victim's families, and I suppose you could say, for the public.
Laredo is mostly Hispanic, maybe 97 percent. So when I walked into
this gathering, full of Hispanic people and everyone of them waving
an American flag, it felt slightly odd. I had been living in this
city for years. People drive about with Mexican flags on their cars,
Mexican license plates, and it really helps to speak Spanish at
a drive-thru. At this event, local politicians stood up to speak
about what it meant to them to be an American; what it meant to
live in this country. Some of them had even served in the armed
forces. My memory of it may be not as factual as I'd like, but just
about all of them began their speeches in English, and then in the
middle of their rambling, caught and entangled within their own
emotions, they'd find themselves unable to convey the force or clarity
desired, and choked and in tears they would finish in Spanish. This
went on, speaker after speaker. There was a definite moment in this
sea of flags that I knew, without doubt, this event was not transpiring
just south of the river.
This is a country of principles. You do not have to be born here.
Or be of a certain race, sex or belief to be a citizen or to become
a citizen. The only standard we hold are our laws. I've never been
a big flag waver. These people affected me, just as much as did
the silence on the other side of the bridge. That night the river
had more breadth to it than I had previously imagined.
Question: From your experience, what do you think are the main
reasons people try to sneak in to America illegally? Nowadays, especially
when we talk about the U.S.-Mexico border, it seems like all we're
ever talking about is hard-and-fast economic opportunity, as opposed
to political freedom, democracy, some of the ideals that we associate
more with immigration from earlier eras.
Dennis: I believe the people trying to cross illegally
from Mexico are doing so mostly for economic reasons. They are poor
and this country offers them unimaginable opportunities. It is a
natural flow. If two letters are dropped from the word, "immigration"
what is left is "migration" and gone with those letters
are all the political implications of this human trek. The cause
of this movement is economic. The cause of the imbalance has yet
to be addressed in this forum. And the border is a rather thin membrane
between the two nations.
Question: Since September 11th we've heard a lot about waking
up to what people in other countries think of us. As someone who
defends America's borders, what's your perspective?
Dennis: I'm not trying to be cavalier, but I really don't care.
Our economy and our culture spew across just about every border.
Should that worry you? Maybe. Maybe not. I've lived in Europe and
Asia. I have had good friends in both. People have opinions, and
they are welcome to have as many as they'd like. People are also
tribal. Do you really think the Europeans get along that well? Within
the last hundred years they've tried to destroy themselves twice.
Twice! They were massive wars — I'm sure you have read about
them. Have the Europeans suddenly cornered the market on clear and
reasonable thought? Have the North Africans? India? Pakistan? Sometimes
it seems like the world is a dysfunctional place. My concerns are
closer to home.
Question: From what you wrote, it seems like you can identify emotionally
with the motives of most people who try to cross the border - economic
survival, a better life, etc. - if that's the case, that seems a
lot tougher than other kinds of policing, like street crime, where
I imagine the enforcers don't often identify with the criminals.
Dennis: I can identify with them. But I disagree with what you state.
Police officers see violence. They see it day after day. I'm not
in contact with that. When we speak about people illegally crossing
from Mexico, we are speaking about a democratic nation, a country
with a large labor source, and a land rich in minerals. There are
far worse places on this planet.
Question: What are the differences, personally and professionally,
between the border patrol in Texas and Washington? Are the concerns
of the border patrol in the north different from that of the south?
For example, I would imagine that the problem of illegal Mexican
workers coming up north would be quite different from that of illegal
Chinese ones coming to the West coast. Also, what differences are
there in security concerns? Is the Canadian border seen as a higher
risk than the Mexican one, or vice versa?
Dennis: The southern border is more dangerous. On the northern border
you don't have those days when you feel that you are getting completely
overrun. I'm relatively new to the northern border. A lot of my
professional inclinations are not correct anymore. It's a different
flow of traffic.
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