Gearing up for the Next Hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico

The Rio Grande Guardian reports that if a hurricane hits the Rio Grande Valley this season, residents evacuated via school buses will be prescreened for citizenship. Hurricane season starts June 1. In the event of a hurricane in the region, emergency officials predict more than 130,000 evacuees will leave the Valley by school bus. They will be checked for identification and citizenship before they can board. Anyone who is not a citizen or is not a legal resident will be held in specially designed areas in the Valley that are “made to withstand hurricanes,” said Dan Doty, a Border Patrol spokesperson for the Valley sector.

Checking papers in teh face of a hurricane?  What the heck?  Why not just strive to evacuate everyone ASAP, which seems like the humanitrian thing to do?  I previously have written about how this nation failed immigrants (as well as many others) in the wake of Hurrican Katrina.  It seems to me that we are headed toward another mishandling of a mass disaster — and immigrants will suffer. 

KJ

Thanks to Dan Kowalski for this story (and many more).