The Citizens Academy, an incentive from the U.S. Border Patrol to get people from the community more involved, meets Thursday in El Centro. (Laura Gonzalez) |
As a child growing up in Calexico a half-mile from the border, Daniel Navarro said Border Patrol agents were not an uncommon sight.
Nor was it uncommon for family members to voice their opinions about the federal agency, he said.
Although family members from Mexico initially were apprehensive upon hearing of his career choice, their questioning lessened over time, Navarro said.Now in his 10th year as a U.S. Border Patrol agent with the El Centro Sector, Navarro also happens to be one of three siblings that work for the Customs and Border Protection agency.
A born talker, his job entails reaching out to the community and meeting with high school and college students throughout the area and the states. Typical questions from the crowds he speaks with usually focus on pay, training and job duties, Navarro said. But on one occasion someone asked him what it felt like to have to apprehend Mexicans, considering that he himself is of Mexican descent.
Such an inquiry, Navarro said, was predictable considering his badge, Spanish surname and dark brown skin.
“It wasn’t something I wasn’t expecting,” the 35-year-old Navarro said.
Within the Latino community’s collective psyche and popular culture, the Border Patrol looms large — and is often assigned the cheeky sobriquet of “la migra.” No doubt the historical animosity that exists between certain segments of many border communities has ties to what is perceived to be heavy-handed policing measures employed by the agency in the past. To date, some organizations still continue to find fault with the federal agency for alleged mistreatment of detained immigrants and immigrant communities.
“The Border Patrol is like the bogeyman in our culture,” said Renee Moreno, Chicano studies professor at California State University, Northridge. The fiction and nonfiction works used as part of Moreno’s literature and composition curriculum both portray the Border Patrol in a positive and negative light, she said.
Because of their social and economic backgrounds, many of her students are familiar with the “militarization of the border” as a phenomenon. The idea is to prompt students “who have experienced the growing presence of the police state” to critically analyze their opinions and emotions about such issues, Moreno said.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol have always been presented in an unsympathetic light in Chicano political theater, said Jorge Huerta, Chicano theater professor at University of California, San Diego.
“I’ve never read or seen a very positive portrayal of the Border Patrol.”
Yet, Huerta concedes that a person’s attitude about the agency is going to be very different depending on where they reside and their experiences.
Although there are an increasing number of Latino agents, they are often looked down on for doing their job, even though “they’re upholding the law,” Huerta said.
“If you’re political you’re supposed to hate the INS and the ‘migra,’” Huerta said.
In fiscal 2011, 35 percent of the CBP’s 59,820 employees were Hispanic, according to the federal agency. The increasingly diverse work force is a result of their “diversity recruitment initiatives,” information provided by CBP states.
Efforts to recruit potential employees from their local environs began in earnest under President George W. Bush. Traditionally, agents did not serve in their hometowns in order to lessen the risk of corruption, said National Border Patrol Council Local 2554 union president Lombardo Amaya.
A first-generation Mexican-American, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Arturo Alcaraz said he has no problem reconciling his cultural pride with his job preventing illegal border crossings. Nor is it uncommon for Alcaraz to help a detained immigrant on occasion, he said.
“I’ve called consulates up a lot on behalf of illegal immigrants who weren’t aware of their rights,” Alcaraz said.
While a couple of his distant cousins may have questioned why he wanted to join the Border Patrol, Alcaraz said his family had always been aware that he wanted to pursue a law enforcement career.
With nearly 20 years as an agent, Alcaraz said that while some problems do exist within the agency, they are far from prevalent nor any different from any other workplace in that respect. Also, the agency has gone to great lengths to make people more culturally aware in recent years, said Alcaraz, a union vice president based in Indio.
“I’ve yet to meet a racist in the Border Patrol,” Alcaraz said. “There’s a difference between being unprofessional and being a flat-out racist. If you’re a racist, everyone will see right through you.”
Staff Writer and Copy Editor Julio Morales can be reached at 760-335-4665.
Nor was it uncommon for family members to voice their opinions about the federal agency, he said.
Although family members from Mexico initially were apprehensive upon hearing of his career choice, their questioning lessened over time, Navarro said.Now in his 10th year as a U.S. Border Patrol agent with the El Centro Sector, Navarro also happens to be one of three siblings that work for the Customs and Border Protection agency.
A born talker, his job entails reaching out to the community and meeting with high school and college students throughout the area and the states. Typical questions from the crowds he speaks with usually focus on pay, training and job duties, Navarro said. But on one occasion someone asked him what it felt like to have to apprehend Mexicans, considering that he himself is of Mexican descent.
Such an inquiry, Navarro said, was predictable considering his badge, Spanish surname and dark brown skin.
“It wasn’t something I wasn’t expecting,” the 35-year-old Navarro said.
Within the Latino community’s collective psyche and popular culture, the Border Patrol looms large — and is often assigned the cheeky sobriquet of “la migra.” No doubt the historical animosity that exists between certain segments of many border communities has ties to what is perceived to be heavy-handed policing measures employed by the agency in the past. To date, some organizations still continue to find fault with the federal agency for alleged mistreatment of detained immigrants and immigrant communities.
“The Border Patrol is like the bogeyman in our culture,” said Renee Moreno, Chicano studies professor at California State University, Northridge. The fiction and nonfiction works used as part of Moreno’s literature and composition curriculum both portray the Border Patrol in a positive and negative light, she said.
Because of their social and economic backgrounds, many of her students are familiar with the “militarization of the border” as a phenomenon. The idea is to prompt students “who have experienced the growing presence of the police state” to critically analyze their opinions and emotions about such issues, Moreno said.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol have always been presented in an unsympathetic light in Chicano political theater, said Jorge Huerta, Chicano theater professor at University of California, San Diego.
“I’ve never read or seen a very positive portrayal of the Border Patrol.”
Yet, Huerta concedes that a person’s attitude about the agency is going to be very different depending on where they reside and their experiences.
Although there are an increasing number of Latino agents, they are often looked down on for doing their job, even though “they’re upholding the law,” Huerta said.
“If you’re political you’re supposed to hate the INS and the ‘migra,’” Huerta said.
In fiscal 2011, 35 percent of the CBP’s 59,820 employees were Hispanic, according to the federal agency. The increasingly diverse work force is a result of their “diversity recruitment initiatives,” information provided by CBP states.
Efforts to recruit potential employees from their local environs began in earnest under President George W. Bush. Traditionally, agents did not serve in their hometowns in order to lessen the risk of corruption, said National Border Patrol Council Local 2554 union president Lombardo Amaya.
A first-generation Mexican-American, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Arturo Alcaraz said he has no problem reconciling his cultural pride with his job preventing illegal border crossings. Nor is it uncommon for Alcaraz to help a detained immigrant on occasion, he said.
“I’ve called consulates up a lot on behalf of illegal immigrants who weren’t aware of their rights,” Alcaraz said.
While a couple of his distant cousins may have questioned why he wanted to join the Border Patrol, Alcaraz said his family had always been aware that he wanted to pursue a law enforcement career.
With nearly 20 years as an agent, Alcaraz said that while some problems do exist within the agency, they are far from prevalent nor any different from any other workplace in that respect. Also, the agency has gone to great lengths to make people more culturally aware in recent years, said Alcaraz, a union vice president based in Indio.
“I’ve yet to meet a racist in the Border Patrol,” Alcaraz said. “There’s a difference between being unprofessional and being a flat-out racist. If you’re a racist, everyone will see right through you.”
Staff Writer and Copy Editor Julio Morales can be reached at 760-335-4665.
