Valley trap for illegals

Houston Chronicle:

Stepped-up immigration enforcement in South Texas has made a long-standing predicament even worse: Increasing numbers of undocumented residents find themselves trapped, unable to get past beefed-up highway checkpoints.

Many are teenagers who rarely stray from their towns and neighborhoods for fear of getting deported.

''These kids go to school here, they've grown up here, and are as American as anyone, except they have no documents," said Kyle Brown, a McAllen immigration lawyer. "They can't go back to Mexico and can't go out of the Valley. It's a problem we see over and over."

Such immigrants are thought to number in the tens of thousands, Brown and other immigration lawyers say, and their ranks are growing as the illegal immigrant population swells.

Typical is the Carrizales family. Irma Alvarado de Carrizales is a legal U.S. resident. But two of her four children have no documents.

Travel is risky, said Carrizales, who lives in the McAllen area. And family getaways — jaunts to Sea World, the Alamo or Six Flags Over Texas — are out of the question.

"South Padre Island is the only place we can go," she said. ''We are prisoners of the Valley."

...

I guess we are suppose to feel sorry for people who broke the law and are suffering the inconveniences associated with that conduct. People need to take responsibility for their actions and there effects on their family. Having lived in the Valley, one can feel pretty isolated there even if you do get a trip out occassionally.

Apparently the problem is not limited to the Lower Rio Grande Valley. This student from East Harlem ran into the same problem when a group he is part of unexpectedly won a science contest and a trip to Atlanta. As unfortunate as these stories are, it is good to see that at least some aspects of the immigration enforcment system are working.