Good morning friends,
An unexpected midweek turn of events here. One of our local subscribers reports recognizing the subject of our last Dispatch.
It was just last Sunday, but here’s a link to the relevant dispatch, for posterity and convenience.
Osiel Martinez Perez was arrested after a brief chase with Border Patrol, Sheriff’s Deputies and members of the Galveston Crew. He apparently managed to break contact while speeding down Spring Street and doubled back to a local restaurant where he tried to blend in with customers while ordering a taco.
Sometime after he was able to take a seat, lawmen spotted his vehicle in the parking lot of the restaurant. They found 3 illegal aliens hidden in his car.
After his arrest, he told Deputies that he was living in Austin, and was in the US from Mexico on an asylum claim of some kind.
Our subscriber tells us that Martinez Perez and he have had a couple of conversations out in front of the local Post Office on separate occasions.
It’s a small town and as it happens, we know this subscriber personally, and do not believe him to be the sort to make something like this up.
“I couldn’t figure out how to spell his name right,” said Señor Cuchillo. That’s the name we’re assigning our subscriber, since we don’t care to bandy his real name about.
“It really bothered me, because I liked the guy. He seemed very nice,” Señor Cuchillo continued, describing some embarrassment over having to ask Osiel what his name was once again on their second encounter in front of the Post Office.
“We didn’t really talk about much; it was all mostly small talk, but I gifted him a pocket-knife, as is my way.”
“He remembered me and seemed really glad to be able to talk again. Recognized my face and my vehicle.”
Taking another gander at Martinez Perez’s arrest photo, one doesn’t get the impression of a hardened criminal. He looks soft, even. Weighed down with the certain knowledge that his life has become even more complicated. It’s not hard to imagine a scenario where someone’s in the US on an asylum claim— no job— no prospects— living in one of the most expensive cities in Texas and desperate for some income.
Odds are decent that he turned to some of the same individuals that helped him get here, for a chance at some cash. This is all presuming that our soft-hearted impression of him is correct— that he is in fact a tender soul and not some kind of hardened character abusing the asylum system in the very first place.
Indeed— a more sinister possibility for his encounters with our subscriber has occurred. Everyone focuses on the drivers and the mules when speaking of Cartel employees, but there is another line of work that goes largely unnoticed by the general public. Many a stolen vehicle taken in the border area winds up going directly across, unchecked and unstopped— many times transported that way before owners can even report them stolen.
Many times, the ranch trucks and other vehicles wind up returning after modifications, allowing them to haul drugs in hidden compartments, or they return with their interiors modified to allow the cartels to move more people inside the cabins. Backseats ripped out, whatever.
We find ourselves wondering if it is possible that Martinez Perez was also employed in moving about the area, looking for likely prospects and good vehicles for stealing.
Many years ago, a San Antonio Police Officer investigating a series of vehicle break ins in a neighborhood we were remodeling a home in, told us that it was very common for a large portion of thefts in San Antonio to be cars that were heading across the border in the way we’ve described. In so many words, if they weren’t taken for a joyride by local knuckleheads, one could bet money they were going across the border.
As always, no easy answers. But our imagined circumstances behind Osiel Martinez Perez’s Austin existence— broke, needing cash, turning to cartel contacts for opportunity— are not hard to imagine applying to many a desperate asylum seeker. Generally speaking— legal immigrants to any other nation are expected to have some kind of means or prospects of supporting themselves while there.
Asylum seekers, not so much.
We saw a US Congressman tweet out a claim that there might be 5-million people in the US already, after crossing the southern border. Maybe he’s wrong and it’s less.
4 months ago, CNN said there were 1.6 million asylum claims pending in U.S. immigration courts. At some point, the exact totals seem academic. “I was fine with 2 million people being here, broke with no means of support— but 4 million? That’s just over the line, brother!” We chuckle while writing that made up quote just now, from some imaginary hothead that lives in our thoughts. But it really shouldn’t be a laughing matter. On the other hand, if you’re not laughing, maybe you’d better be well on your way to crying.
One last thing before we go:
Remember Latayvia Washington McGee?
She’s one of the survivors of that cartel kidnapping in Matamoros, that involved a group of US citizens from South Carolina. They were down there in search of some cheap plastic surgery. A tummy tuck, some reported.
Well, she’s under arrest on charges out of Florida, Friday night, accused of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
According to the paperwork, she basically dragged her kid back to the scene of an altercation and tried to force the child to fight another youngster. She also was allegedly waving a pistol around.
We found the details over at www.borderreport.com which is a website maintained by employees of the Nexstar broadcasting group— a company that owns a whole fleet of local tv stations scattered around the country. The same company is also behind the fledgling national news network “Newsnation,” after converting the old WGN Chicago operation that many may remember as being similar to TBS in Atlanta, only broadcasting Cubs baseball games instead of the Atlanta Braves.
As always, the newsletter is an independent work product— kept as separate as possible from our day job handling public information requests for Kinney County Govt.
Any opinions expressed here, any mistakes made, or other misdeeds are entirely our own. No one should confuse this humble newsletter for any kind of official communication by the county. The newsletter’s genesis predates our hiring.
That’ll do it for now. Thanks for reading, we’ll be back again soon. Until then— try and keep a smile on and stay limber. It’s getting mean as hell out there.