Carlos Cascos: Border Cruelty "Beyond Inhumane. Should Be Denounced By All"...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Like many Texans, Carlos Cascos has heard and read about the savage and brutal action on the banks of the Rio Grande, where state troopers and agents of the U.S. Border Patrol are using not grenades or flamethrowers to keep migrants out of the country but sharp razor wire quick to rip skin apart. Another word that comes to mind is barbaric.

Women and children are bloodying the waters of the fabled river.

Cascos made time in his day to write and then submit the following comment to The McAllen Sun about the mess on the border: [ Border security should be at the forefront, but if these actions are accurate, it goes beyond inhumane treatment & should be denounced by all. There's got to be a better way to secure our border without causing deaths or serious injuries to anyone. Human smuggling, many of which are children, illegally cross our border daily. How do we address this?

(1.) more boots on the ground along our Southern border, with the necessary tools to curb the crossings & better vetting of all child sponsors. (2.) Increase law enforcement on our roads & highways inland. (3.) using K9 units for all Southbound traffic trained to detect cash & weapons. (4.) sentencing guidelines to include a minimum of 20 years or life in prison without parole for those convicted of human smuggling. (5.) electing people that will support border security & our initiatives that curb illegal crossings.

Stopping any illegal activity along our border is a multi-prong attack. It takes addressing several components of these issues & recognizing that there is no easy quick solution. ]

He won't criticize the man behind the state's policies at the border by name, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, but Cascos is at the very least thinking calmly and logically, not angrily or viciously, as is politics-motivated Abbott.

A former Cameron County Judge and ex-Texas Secretary of State (appointed by Abbott, by the way), Cascos is flirting with a run at Democrat Vicente Gonzalez's 34th Congressional District seat in the 2024 elections.

He has yet to declare, but earlier listed Labor Day (Sept. 4th) as the day when he will announce his decision. A Republican, Cascos would be a veritable choice for voters, who also will have another, more-bellicose Republican - Mayra Flores - as an option on the ballot. The cactus thorn Miss Flores does not take criticism well. She has banned us from her Facebook page, blocking access.

Abbott, meanwhile, has said he is merely protecting the "sovereign" territory of the state and, aside from welcoming lawsuits from a private individual in Eagle Pass and from the federal government, has said his policies will continue.

The headstrong governor also downplayed a report that had a state trooper noting the inhumane treatment of migrants at the border (see our earlier story about that).

To be fair and honest, Cascos says these recent border actions are "beyond inhumane and should be denounced by all," if accurate. Well, true they are, as an avalanche of news photographs will attest.

For him, and for a Republican, those are strong words...heady and smart in a time when intelligence is in demand...

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