{"id":142573,"date":"2016-04-07T10:18:18","date_gmt":"2016-04-07T16:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=142573"},"modified":"2016-04-14T10:05:10","modified_gmt":"2016-04-14T16:05:10","slug":"an-abuse-of-power-at-a-border-crossing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/04\/an-abuse-of-power-at-a-border-crossing\/","title":{"rendered":"An abuse of power at a border crossing"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>We had seen signs all over Chihuahua state advertising the new and improved border crossing that was in Santa Teresa. During the time, it was a straight shot for those driving from Chihuahua City to the outlet malls at the outskirts of El Paso, perfect for the late summer season that would start drawing thousands across the border for shopping.<\/p>\n

\"Cassie

Courtesy photo<\/p>

Cassie McClure<\/p><\/div>\n

We had taken our daughter to one of her first visits to Chihuahua City. I say “one of her first” because this is one of those events you want to block and don\u2019t remember exactly the date, but Goober wasn\u2019t walking yet, and still plump with baby fat.<\/p>\n

I think she was around six or eight months old, so it was several years ago.<\/p>\n

It was a mistake. It was dusk and we assumed it was likely a shift change, but as half hours ticked by without movement, the usual \u2013 the angry horn honking \u2013 began. Short bursts of meeping angry and long blasts that called up other frustrated drivers to join in a chorus.<\/p>\n

It was still a delicate balance between GS, my husband, and I. We hadn\u2019t been married overly long, and with my background, coming from a military family, I knew very well the types who are given power without warrant. We had huge blowouts about me trying to smooth over situations in front of Border Patrol agents — actions that he saw as patronizing to his rights as a resident and a human. We were both right and wrong, and that\u2019s the worst situation to be in with your spouse.<\/p>\n

This time, I was silent. He was fuming when we finally made it to the agent. He\u2019d been at a press conference a week back where they spoke about proper entry at lanes, first to stop at the lights, then pull through, but it turns out the Santa Teresa agents weren\u2019t at that press conference so it started with some guff on that.<\/p>\n

Curt yes’s and no\u2019s from GS. She was handing back our cards. GS snatched them away, which elicited a question — \u201cDo you have a problem?\u201d<\/p>\n

“No,” from GS. Pressed, he may have mentioned that it certainly took a while to get through. \u201cOh? Secondary.\u201d And she pointed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d asked\u00a0GS. \u201cSECONDARY,\u201d she demanded.<\/p>\n

I probably let out a forceful sigh. Secondary is when you get your car really, really inspected. You get out, get put on metal tables much like they put bodies on at a morgue, and wait for them to ransack your belongings. Goober was happy to be in my lap and out of the car for a change.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t until I realized they were unhooking the base to the car seat that I lost my mind. If you\u2019re a parent, you know, but let me fill in those others. The base to a car seat is an infernal contraption that you have to knee into the seat cushion to get it down and tight, all the while making sure that the seatbelt doesn\u2019t lose its lock position with one hand. It\u2019s annoying.<\/p>\n

And, to an extent, annoying is part of the game now for measures of \u201csafety.\u201d This — and who buys drugs — isn\u2019t a debate I\u2019ll have here. I was just a bit done in the moment. The agent guarding us got a call from me. \u201cHey, let me speak to your supervisor.\u201d<\/p>\n

He did a bit of a tick. \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho is your supervisor?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be right back.\u201d<\/p>\n

A short Hispanic lady came out from the booth. GS\u00a0explained that he was gruff and curt, but believed that the agent acted out her power as retribution. The supervisor\u00a0explained that it was the agent\u2019s call and within their rights. They were still rifling through our clothes, with the car seat on the ground next to the car.<\/p>\n

I broke into the conversation: \u201cSo, what I see right now is an abuse of power.\u201d She looked over to me and Goober on my lap. Goober gurgled happily. \u201cThis is an abuse of power because there was no need to pull us into secondary; she was about to let us go until she changed her mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMa\u2019am -\u201d<\/p>\n

And I continued on, about what exactly spurred on the agent’s\u00a0decision. I spoke calmly, but quickly. It was right when the ma\u2019am came from her that I knew I made her nervous. She held a brochure in her hand, which described the complaint filing process, and she placed in front of the face of my baby. \u201cI can\u2019t be serious with her laughing at me,\u201d she said. It broke the spell of authority, and she waved to the agents, who got out of our car, leaving us to fight with the car seat before leaving.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s absurd. I didn\u2019t file a complaint because I\u2019ve had this happen so many times, and have so many stories, but what I implied in the moment was that it was an abuse of power and we all knew it. If I\u2019m driving back from Ju\u00e1rez, we get told to have a nice day. My husband, now a U.S. citizen, still gets the third degree. The checkpoints, never a problem to white me. My husband, let\u2019s discuss itinerary.<\/p>\n

But is it worth it to fight it in the moment? No. Their power in the moment is\u00a0just words with threats of intimidation under the veil of justice. Strangely our words mean more than we think, but we keep quiet. I didn\u2019t speak up, because they haven\u2019t come for me yet.<\/p>\n

Yet.<\/p>\n

Cassie McClure is a writer, a wife\/mama\/daughter, fan of the Oxford comma, and drinker of tequila. Some of these things relate. She writes regularly the Las Cruces Sun-News, but also other places if they let her. She blogs about other things at desertsuburbia.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But is it worth it to fight it in the moment? No. Their power in the moment is just words with threats of intimidation under the veil of justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[140,3282,203],"class_list":["post-142573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-border-patrol","tag-law-enforcement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}