In-Person Hearings Scheduled
And, some Bonus Historical Context & Perspective
Hello again, friends.
Tomorrow, Friday Morning (Jan 7), should be a big day symbolically, even if one expects things to move in a perfunctory, machine-like fashion.
In-person hearings are scheduled to begin for certain cases of trespassing associated with Operation Lone Star. Until now, nearly all of the hearings have been conducted via teleconferencing over Zoom, with attorneys, detainees, and Judges interacting remotely.
Now, tomorrow morning at 9:00, people will be conducting business in the courtroom upstairs in the Kinney County Courthouse. One imagines there may still be certain attorneys and other sorts attending remotely, but local officials and many of the detainees on the docket will be present.
In the grand scheme of things one imagines it won’t really matter that much— or make any real difference in the course of the proceedings, but it is a significant milestone as Operation Lone Star continues.
If you’ve been paying close attention, you may have already noticed that the San Antonio Express News Editorial board is calling Operation Lone Star “a disgrace,” and calling on Governor Greg Abbott to shut it down.
It’s locked behind a paywall, so readers may not be able to read it for themselves. Sparing you the trouble, we can sum it up by saying that it mainly dwells upon the plights of illegal aliens spending weeks and months of time locked up at the Dolph Briscoe Unit in Dilley, before getting any kind of a hearing.
It’s essentially a watered down version of the same arguments that the Texas Tribune, the ACLU of Texas, and other indigent defense groups have been presenting— arguing that many constitutional protections extend to both citizens and non-citizens alike. Indeed— if one looks at the Constitution, it specifically uses the words “people” and “persons,” instead of ‘Citizens,” when discussing the many rights it enshrines.
Perhaps there is an argument to be made about trying to interpret the framers’ intentions and if they really meant such a distinction, but if one is a strict Constitutionalist, one has to accept that the Founding Fathers chose their words very deliberately, and these groups are arguing that these are inalienable, god-given rights, granted to all men and women, not just American Citizens.
Perhaps the biggest right enshrined here is the 5th Amendment— which guards against self-incrimination.
But, we digress, perhaps pointlessly. The Express-News doesn’t really get into all of that— charting a very shallow course through these difficult waters. Perhaps their writers are experiencing some discomfort involved in arguing on a Constitutionalist basis, much like asking Vampires to speak on the favorable attributes of Garlic, and to compile listicles of 10 reasons why the Power of Christ compelling you is actually a good thing.
What is perhaps most shameful about the editorial, is the way it acknowledges the trials of local ranchers and landowners, before cavalierly dismissing them in the same breath:
While we are sympathetic to ranchers who have had migrants cross their properties — more than 50 ranchers have agreed to the Texas Department of Public Safety patrolling their land — Operation Lone Star is hardly an appropriate solution. We’ve seen again and again how policies solely based on deterrence don’t work because they don’t address the root causes of immigration — food insecurity, poverty and a lack of safety in immigrants’ home countries. Again, comprehensive reform starts with addressing these root causes.
Beyond this, immigration is a federal issue and asylum-seekers have a legal right to have their cases heard.
The dismissal happens even as the matter is raised: “who have had migrants cross their properties.” Such a blithe, inoffensive little fart of a phrase. It ignores and dismisses the ruinous costs area ranchers are suffering. It ignores and dismisses the outsized impact this illegal immigration is having. The chases. The dead migrants. The questions about prostitution and the exploitation of children. It is meant to, of course— the Express News Editorial board is writing to convince people that Operation Lone Star’s costs outweigh the benefits. It is perhaps a bit much, to ask them to acknowledge anything that might detract from their shallow, sophomoric take on the effectiveness of deterrence and root causes. As if local county governments and the State of Texas have any place attempting to address “root causes” in far flung international locations.
They sum it up, by getting to what we believe is the heart of the matter. “Immigration is a federal issue.” Indeed it is. And if the issue is being ignored at the federal level, then what?
What price security? What price safety? It is unfortunate that the people caught in the State of Texas’ ad-hoc efforts to stand in the gap are suffering some measure of worry and uncertainty. However, one could argue that the conditions of their detainment are far more humanitarian than the conditions of their transit. That is to say, they willingly subjected themselves to greater danger and hardship to attempt coming to the United States. One could argue that a modicum of the stoicism they have already displayed would stand them in great stead, as work continues to bring Operation Lone Star up to speed.
It is good, perhaps, that the Express News’ editorial board was not active during the Texas Revolution. Given their performance here, one suspects they might have called for the sacking of Sam Houston, for his failure to immediately come to battle with Mexico’s Santa Anna, the day after the fall of the Alamo.
In the end, this is all part of the process. Hashing all of this out is what the public-facing side of governance is all about. But, one can still wish for a better, more intellectual performance from one of the State’s biggest newspapers. They are surely capable of better. One can only presume they felt some compulsion to address a mythical “average” reader, and dumbed it all down for him/her/xim/xer/xhey. Witness the contempt they must hold for their own audience.
On the subject of Texas History, Sam Houston, the Revolution, and all of that jazz, we thought it might be fun to ramble for a few minutes on the subject of Henry Lawrence Kinney— the man Kinney County is named for.
There is no evidence we can find that Kinney ever set foot in this area. He is perhaps best known for being one the founders of Corpus Christi. In some accounts, he is said to have been an avid horseman, and student of horseflesh. He is also said in some cases to have been quite the ladykiller.
Growing up in the area, all anyone ever heard was that he was just some guy at the legislature, present when they started naming Counties. Not very auspicious. It always sat wrongly. Surrounding Counties and Cities all seemed to be named after heroes of the revolution. Kinney County? Eh. Just some guy. Shrug.
On Wikipedia’s entry for Kinney County, he is simply referred to as an early settler.
Keep digging, and what you find out, is that the man is quite possibly one of History’s almost forgotten great scoundrels and rogues. Consider him a frontier western-style Han Solo, to sum him up for those who rely on pop culture references to frame their views.
Kinney, originally from Pennsylvania, was known for telling all and sundry to call him Colonel. He claimed to have earned the rank, fighting Seminoles in Florida. But, there’s no evidence that he was ever actually in Florida.
In any event, sometime in 1838 “Col.” Kinney set up a trading post in South Texas, near where present-day Brownsville sits. He had just enough hired gun hands and scoundrels with him to fight off casual incursions from Comanche, Apache, and Kickapoo indians— and made most of his money trading in black-market goods with Mexico’s “Federalistas.” He also did plenty of trading with indians that didn’t want to fight.
Recall the “old-three-hundred” families that settled with Moses Austin, and came with the Mexican Government’s permission: that was in 1825. The Texas Revolution ran from 1835 to 1836. Kinney was an upstart. A usurper. A squatter. In fact, based on his trades with the revolutionary federalistas, one could say he was an enemy of Mexico, and a source of complication for the Republic of Texas, which normally didn’t even operate so far South.
One day, the Mexican General that actually owned the land Kinney was squatting on, came to argue the point. He brought an army of Mexican soldiers with him. Kinney had warning of their coming— a paid associate, stationed in Matamoros, rode hard for Kinney’s “Rancho” when the General and his troops were passing through Matamoros.
Kinney scrambled— traveling to nearby settlements to find aid. None was coming. He returned to his trading post, discouraged and alone, only to find out most of his hired gun hands and other employees had taken their pick of the merchandise, and scattered like cockroaches when the lights go on in a filthy kitchen.
Kinney stayed put. Story goes, he rode out to meet the Mexican General when he arrived, putting what few men remained in the best clothing available, on the best horses, with the most guns, trying to make a decent impression. Who knows what he said, exactly— but some old world customs applied— and the General sent him back to the trading post, telling him that if they weren’t gone by morning, things would get dire.
During the night, Kinney and his men planted dynamite in various spots adjacent to the camping Mexican army. They must not have been expecting trouble. The next morning, as they prepared to march into the Rancho, Kinney had the dynamite explode— far enough away that no one was injured— but close enough to be very concerning. Kinney rode back out, alone, and started talking fast— essentially, we are told, he spun a tale of how his cannon had the army ranged, and was ready to wipe them all out. But he was a merciful man, and was willing to give the Mexican General cold hard cash for land that was useless to him anyway.
He must’ve been persuasive. The General returned to Mexico, Kinney kept the land, and spent a good number of years sending money to the General and his family.
The episode and others like it, doubtlessly inflated by Kinney and others, served him in good stead. Kinney went into politics, rubbing shoulders with Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar, as his secret emissary, and performed clandestine chores for Sam Houston and Anson Jones. At one point, Philip Dimmitt, who Dimmit County is named for, accused Kinney of being a Mexican spy. Dimmitt’s name is spelled differently from the County’s by the way, because of a spelling error in the original paperwork— much like how San Antonio’s Bexar County was meant to be “Bear” County.
Reading between the lines, it seems likely that Kinney was probably part of the Republic’s intelligence network, which probably consisted of thieves, smugglers, rumor mongers, and the occasional patriot. It’s almost certain he was passing information or disinformation to Mexico.
In 1845, just as Texas was about to be annexed into the Union, and the Mexican-American War would begin, U.S. General Zachary Taylor landed at Kinney’s trading post with many U.S. troops. A U.S. Army Officer’s description of the place survives, calling it: “the most murderous, thieving, gambling, God-forsaken hole in the Lone Star state or out of it.”
Kinney’s vice dens made tons of money off of U.S. troops heading South. The population of another settlement he was involved in boomed. He called it Corpus Christi. It is also suggested in some circles that Kinney was the one who talked the founders of the King Ranch into giving it a go.
As happens in boom and bust cycles, years later, Kinney was flat broke and bored. He became a filibusterer. Today, the word refers to a legislative tactic, where lawmakers attempt to talk a bill to death, by refusing to give up the floor and allowing a vote.
Back then, it referred to a special class of U.S. adventurers who descended upon Central America and attempted to conquer parts of it, with the intention of creating new U.S. States where slavery would be legal. If it sounds crazy, that’s because it was. But, in several cases, they were more successful than you might expect.
Kinney had his sights set on a piece of Nicaragua on the Mosquito Coast, and managed some initial success. He founded a settlement, a newspaper, and began putting on airs.
Unfortunately for him, he’d crossed paths with an even bigger scoundrel— a filibusterer named William Walker, who was backed by bigger and more powerful money men in the United States, men like Cornelius Vanderbilt. Walker crushed Kinney and sent him packing.
Walker’s story is a great one if you’ve never heard it. He was later crushed in turn after leading several similar efforts in Costa Rica, Mexico, and other places. He was executed by firing squad at the age of 36.
Kinney later took up residence in Matamoros and was killed there in a gunfight. There are rumors that it was over a woman. It was in 1861.
Somewhere way before then, folks in the Legislature needed a name to hang on this spot of land near the Las Moras Creek and the Rio Grande, and gave it Kinney’s.
For whatever reasons, 7th Grade Texas History never really dwelled for long on who the County was named for, or why.
It is perhaps a special kind of fate, that a man both blessed and cursed with such a nature and such gifts— able to influence the world around him to such an extent, is now almost forgotten. Even though his name survives, hung ‘round the neck of a parcel of land he probably never visited, word of his deeds, and who he was as a person have almost disappeared.
For all of the furor over Governor Greg Abbott and Operation Lone Star— and all of the furor over Governor Rick Perry before him, one finds it comforting in a way: the passing of time has erased bigger men and bigger problems from modern sensibilities.
And it will do so again.
Thanks for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow night (Jan 7), with some photos and a few words from the Courthouse as the first in-person hearings from Operation Lone Star get underway. We’ll see you then. It may be that the Court won’t allow photography, and we’ll just have to get what we can get.
We hope Friday finds each of you in the best of minds possible— ready for a great weekend with Family, Friends, or solitude, as circumstances lead you.
As always, this newsletter and any errors or other sins contained within are entirely our own— and not indicative of Kinney County policy and should not reflect on our work on behalf of the Kinney County Sheriff’s Office.
Edited to correct some errors of style, punctuation, and spelling. Apologies to our email readers, who suffer through our first drafts.