Frontera Progressives: Tilting at Windmills

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon

Frontera Progressives is a local political organization whose mission statement reads, "We are an independent organization that educates and engages the energy of the community to support progressive values."

The organization has recently made local headlines by petitioning Charro Days, Inc. to disinvite the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, and the Border Patrol from participating in the annual Charro Days parades.

Customs and Border Protection and the Border Patrol usually participate in the Color Guard parade. Their mounted officers usually march at the front of the parade displaying the American, Texan, CBP, and Border Patrol flags.

Frontera Progressives wants the agencies scratched from the parades. In a letter sent to the Charro Days organizers and several local media outlets, they write:
While we understand that they are a part of our community and may perform an important public service, it is also the case that they have worked aggressively to enforce border policies that have ripped families apart within our own community, denied people their basic rights, prevented people access to critical medical care, and even led to the deaths of numerous people.

Whatever one may think of the work being done by these agencies, their presence at a celebration of togetherness is jarring and disquieting. Their participation at Charro Days Fiesta is incompatible and irreconcilable with the connectedness that binds our two cities.

Frontera Progressives needs to seriously consider looking for a professional issues director. It is very hard to take Frontera Progressives seriously when they don't seem to take themselves seriously.

Trying to exclude CBP and the Border Patrol from participating in the Charro Days parade is as ridiculous and asinine as kneeling during the National Anthem to protest something that has absolutely nothing to do with the National Anthem. 

I'll state the obvious — CBP and the Border Patrol do not create policy. CBP and the Border Patrol do not create the laws. They enforce the policies. They enforce the laws. They are Brownsville and Rio Grande Valley residents who live in the community, send their kids to schools in the community, pay local taxes, and — perhaps most importantly — put their lives on the line to protect the community

I have never hidden from the fact that I am an ardent supporter of law enforcement. It takes a special kind of courage and bravado to run towards danger when everybody else is running away from it. I have nothing but respect and admiration for those who decide to stand watch and protect me.

That said, I do not agree with this country's misguided and evil immigration practices. I do not think it is a good idea to rip families apart. I do not think it is a good idea to force people who are seeking asylum to live in unhealthy, unsanitary, and unsafe conditions, fending off rape and assault in makeshift tent cities across the border. That doesn't mean I'm for open borders, either. I have to make that distinction because every time someone dares speak out against the draconian immigration policies this country has decided to enact, someone almost always comes to the conclusion that you must be for open borders and wants you to let a family of Honduran refugees live on your front lawn while you keep a family of El Salvadorian asylum seekers in your bedroom.

I'm certain several officers who button up the navy blue uniform of a CBP agent or a dark green border patrol uniform feel the same way. Someone wouldn't have a soul if they took delight in seeing a child torn from the arms of his mother, or seeing a teenage boy sleeping on a cold concrete slab, but they don't get to decide which laws they want to enforce and which ones they want to ignore. They have a job to do. 

Frontera Progressives focusing on the agents who enforce the law rather than the politicians who create the laws is like blaming a referee for throwing a penalty flag for enforcing a rule in a football game. Yell all you want, and complain all you want, but the referee is simply enforcing a rule that he didn't have a hand in creating. 

I'm not saying Frontera Progressives shouldn't be upset at the way refugees and asylum seekers are being treated, I just think focusing on their agents, their color guard, and their appearance in the Charro Days parades is ridiculous.

The powers-that-be at Charro Days, Inc. have issued a press release denying Frontera Progressive's petition stating, "throughout the years all Local, State, and National Law Enforcement agencies have been proud and respected participants in the Charro Days Inc. parades."  The statement goes on to say, "Charro Days Inc. was 'Created to lift community spirits during difficult times.' Article 12 of our by-laws simply states: 'Charro Days Inc. is an enterprise undertaking of all the PEOPLE of Brownsville and the immediate surrounding community of such city.' We understand and recognize the views of all, but we are not a political or governmental agency,"

If Frontera Progressives wants to be taken seriously as an interest group, and if they want local politicians to adopt some of their progressive policies, they should avoid the tragic comedy that will ensue if they try to protest the Charro Days activities. 

Carrying signs and shouting at an event where there will be thousands of people carrying signs and shouting will call little, to no, attention to your cause. If anything, people will just think you're there to cheer, whoop, and yell like all the other people there who just want to watch the parades go by.

There's a time and a place to promote your political agenda. Choosing to focus your ire and energy on a group of uniformed law enforcement agents waving the American and Texas flags because you disagree with laws and policies they had no say in, a group of law enforcement agents who would still risk their lives to protect yours by the way, is not the best way to get your point across. 

Charro Days is neither the time or the place.

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