By Glenn Kolp, Guest Columnist
Several years ago, my wife and I spent a few weeks on South Padre Island near Brownsville, Texas. While there, we decided to take a drive along the southern border.
We didn’t expect to be able to see the border wall and were surprised that we could for long stretches. Even more surprising were the large gaps that popped up every few miles. In most cases, a short dirt road ran through these gaps. We drove down one to check it out. The opening was about 50 feet wide.
We parked at the wall, got out and walked through. There was no one around and no sign of surveillance of any kind. We took a few pictures and returned to the main road, where we continued to see the same gaps at regular intervals.
Curious by nature, I started asking locals about the openings. Some sheepishly said they’d been told to tell anyone who asked that the openings were going to be gated. When pressed, they admitted that no gates had ever been installed.
The most commonly repeated answer was that the gaps are there in order to allow the free flow of immigrants. They explained that the entire economy of south Texas depended on the low cost labor that came across the border.
Many told us the United States relied on this illegal labor force to function smoothly. They told us all we had to do is open our eyes to see that Hispanics dominate labor-intensive industries, the most obvious being agriculture, construction, landscaping and hospitality.
They added that Americans won’t work for the wages the immigrants will, and if they had to replace them with Americans they’d have to raise their prices through the roof.
I asked if the immigrants both legal or illegal brought other problems with them, such as drugs or higher crime rates. Their answer was none at all. They said the workers were so glad to have a decent job they would never do anything to jeopardize that security. They show up on time every day ready to work, and never complain.
Truth is the crime rate among U.S. citizens is far higher than that of the immigrant population who are, by and large, honest, decent people. The claim that powerful drug cartel kingpins would trust thousands of dollars worth of product to people who often have nothing but the clothes on their backs is ludicrous when they can sneak it through legitimate checkpoints in semis or air drop bales from low-flying planes to boats waiting in the Gulf of Mexico.
Whether you choose to believe it or not, the border wall that Mexico never paid a penny for was a lie concocted by a man for whom lying comes easy.
The writer is a resident of Andrews.