Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Letter from Mrs. Susan Hildebrand, owner of the Shiner Ranch, to Mayor of San Antonio, Julian Castro, in response to his protest of the Arizona immigration law

Dear Mayor Castro,

I am writing on behalf of my family and many other ranching families who live in South Texas. I listened to your opinion about the actions of the Governor of Arizona, and I respectfully disagree. We have had to deal with illegal immigrants crossing onto our land for many years, and before the drug cartels and terrorists entered the picture, it was always our policy to help these people by giving them something to eat and drink. It is something we wanted to do to help them, but now things have changed and we feel that our lives are in danger from the recklessness shown by those crossing the borders. In the past nine months, “coyotes” have driven through our fences SIX times while attempting to escape law enforcement. Just this past week, they have crashed three stolen vehicles on the ranch and have abandoned the people who were being transported, including a 14 year old girl who was injured. (The driver had to be air lifted to San Antonio, at a cost to us tax payers.) The vehicle had been stolen from Travis county and it had to be towed. Another tax payer expense, to say nothing of what it has cost us to repair fences and pay for vet bills to pay for an injured horse. (See below.)

Last summer around eleven o’clock at night, another stolen vehicle broke through our fence and managed to drive through three other fences in an attempt to escape the Border Patrol. While our men were repairing the fence so that the livestock wouldn’t get out onto the highway, the Border Patrol, Sheriffs from two towns (Pearsall & Dilley), mounted law enforcement officers (with their tracking dogs) from the Dilley Prison, a helicopter, and a wrecker were here searching for the coyote and his passengers. During the hunt, one of the prison dogs was bitten by a rattler and she died later that night, despite medical treatment. One of our working ranch horses was so frightened that he ran into a tree and cracked his skull. Meanwhile, most of the bad guys managed to elude capture. When the coyote was finally apprehended, he was found to have around $39,000 in his pockets…all taken from the people he had abandoned.

It is easy to live in a city away from the problems we are experiencing here near the border, but we would welcome you and your family to join us and see what is happening firsthand. It would be an eye-opener and it might change your mind when you criticize what the people of Arizona are doing in trying to protect their citizens.

Racial profiling has nothing to do with following the laws that are supposed to be in effect concerning Illegal immigration. Personally, whenever I write a check, go for a doctor’s appointment, or break a traffic law, I am always asked for my identification. I believe it’s the same for you, too.

The Border Patrol is so understaffed, and even if they do apprehend someone they have no power to hold them at gun point. Their lives are put in danger every day while our government officials sit back and offer only criticism of the job they are trying to do.

This land where we live has been in my husband’s family since 1881, and never before have we had any fear about leaving our doors unlocked, walking down a sendero, or driving through a pasture. Now we’ve had to instruct our men not to confront any strangers they come upon because we are unarmed, and they may not be. My husband and I want to leave a legacy of love for this part of God’s country to our children and grandchildren, not one of fear. Please reconsider your stance about enforcing stricter immigration laws, and stand behind the brave men and women who protect our families, as well as your own.

I appreciate the chance to give you some idea of what we are dealing with, and it is my prayer that you will support defending our borders before it is too late.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Susan Hildebrand

4 comments:

dama said...

This letter, no matter how true and right, will fall on deaf ears, do you know who this man is, and he is Obama’s protégée! His mother is the biggest racist in Bexar County; she “hates the Alamo” Google “Julian Castro’s Mother / Alamo”. I have lived in South Texas all my life and I know something has to be done about our borders, but this country has given way to Moral clarity for political correctness. We are the only country in the world that does not have secure borders, freedom is a commodity we have to protect or there will be none.

gerray said...

We will not see a solution to this problem until we vote the idiots who are in office out! As long as we keep voting them back in, they will continue to pander to the "special interest" groups that largely support illegal immigration and amnesty. My wife is a LEGAL resident, and it took us months to get the papers through. Any person who cares to immigrate to the US LEGALLY is welcome, otherwise, send them home!
Try getting caught while in MEXICO illegally or any other country! They deport you (after a stay in jail) no questions asked, and with no fear of criticism from foreign governments or special interest groups!

joehmartinez said...

Thank you for your fine letter. My relatives and I, and my friends support your stand. We are also concerned that our country will not apply existing laws. It is our contention that should they apply that portion of the law that places a fine on those who hire illegal or undocumented citizens, the flow of these visitors will cease. What must be considered are the problems we will encounter. There are many illegal children who arrived in our country with their parents and if deported would be lost in their own country...a country which is no longer their own. They have been educated in the US and are fully functioning in English and within an American society. Some of these undocumented citizens are in our armed forces and some of those have undocumented wives and children, and possibly parents who are themselves undocumented.

In my opinion, there are many citizens who meet the above description and are reacting emotionally instead as citizens because they are descendants of undocumented citizens. History tells us that most Americans arriving in the 1885 -? were undocumented. An example is the unacceptable name given to the Italians in that period. There were so many of them that the word WOP became the disparaging word to describe the various undocumented groups, which ultimately came to stand for "with out papers", and encompassed the Italian and Mik (to describe a person of Irish descent), Patty (Irish), and others.

When these citizens arrived, our country welcomed these workers because of the present industrial revolution. We needed workers. Today, the need for workers in particular work areas are still needed; nevertheless, the emphasis is on deportation. There is little said about the vacuum that will be created when/if the deportation is successful.

To deport these people will create a monster. What are we going to do with American children whose parents are deported? Some of these children will be old enough to stay in this country, some will have to go with their parents to an unfamiliar environment. What are we going to do about the jobs that will be left vacant? Parents who are arrested when they go work in factories leave their family in limbo.

Both of my parents come from families that were in Texas in the early 1700's. Needless to say they experienced discrimination. So did I. Most Americans do not understand the monster created by our government when it did not and does not enforce laws. The lack of enforcement has created the problem which has become unbearable by some American Citizen and has served to augment it.

We, as Americans need to find a reasonable solution to this problem. The immediate action should be to stop the flow of undocumented workers coming into our country. The following action must be honorable and reasonable.

El Cascabel said...

Mrs Hildebrand, this was a very well written letter that I WISH or politicians would read and take to heart. Thanks you for supporting the Border Patrol. I pray our POTUS will ultimately have the support he needs to make the changes that needs to take place.