D.C. Hearings Sought on Border Violence

Three U.S. representatives from Southern California have called for congressional hearings in San Diego to explore ways of reducing what many see as an escalating pattern of violence along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Writing that the situation is “explosive,” the three lawmakers--Esteban Torres (D-Pico Rivera), Jim Bates (D-San Diego) and Mel Levine (D-Los Angeles)--recited a series of recent violent confrontations near the border.

Among the incidents mentioned: the shooting in August of a 15-year-old Mexican boy by a member of the U.S. Border Patrol and the death shortly before of a 14-year-old who was run over and killed by a Border Patrol vehicle.

“We do not feel we can sit back any longer and wait for yet another tragedy,” the three representatives wrote in a letter, dated Oct. 12, to Rep. Gus Yatron, D-Pa., chairman of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on human rights and international relations. “While we recognize that Border Patrol officers are often subject to harassment by unsavory elements . . . methods must be found to reduce the potential for violence at this international crossing.”

A subcommittee spokesman in Washington called the request for a hearing “legitimate” and indicated that a session could probably be arranged before the end of the year. However, because of budgetary restrictions, the foreign affairs panel is limited to holding hearings in Washington. That has prompted Torres, who spearheaded the move, to seek out a Judiciary Committee subcommittee that deals with immigration issues and would be able to travel.

Among the possible actions aimed at reducing border violence, the lawmakers wrote, is an in-depth study of stress among U.S. border guards to determine whether there is a need for more manpower, improved training or even a restructuring of the agency.

The Border Patrol, a uniformed enforcement arm of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, has more than 700 officers based in the San Diego area, the largest such contingent in the nation. The region accounts for more than a third of all immigration arrests throughout the Southern frontier.

Immigrant advocates and the INS said they would welcome the congressional hearings.

“We are pleased that the problem along the border is finally being given the attention it merits,” said Virginia Kice , a spokeswoman with the INS’ regional office in Los Angeles, who noted that many Border Patrol officers have also been attacked.

Roberto Martinez, who co-chairs a San Diego human rights coalition, is among those who has pushed for the hearings. “The important point is that the violence is getting worse, not better,” said Martinez, border representative for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group.

Meanwhile, border violence is likely to be a key topic among U.S. and Mexican officials who plan to confer in San Diego later this year on a range of border issues.

Andrew Oltyan, a Mexico desk officer at the State Department in Washington, said the session will involve a binational advisory group that examines issues of joint concern to the two nations. Previous meetings have taken place in Mexico City and Washington, he said, but officials have now decided to hold more of the talks in border cities where the issues are experienced directly.

Apart from violence, some of the concerns to be addressed include arrest and detentions of Mexican citizens in the United States and of U.S. nationals in Mexico, the repatriation of minors from both nations, the use of material witnesses from the two countries in legal cases and the return of recovered vehicles that had been stolen and taken across the border.

“We’re trying to focus in on where we’re having problems and determine where we can improve things,” Oltyan said.