Instead of submitting all these comments...you guys should start evacuating. I am very impressed that the news channels out their aren't sending messages for evacuations. This is a serious matter and considering south texas is one of the poorest parts of the U.S. it is not prepared for a hurricane that will increase in size through the gulf. I have sat in an evacuation for 14 hours to a place that was only 2 hours away...and all for waiting for the last minute. You guys need to leave and and stop worrying about those that have concerns about the border patrol...cause at the last minute they are probably going to stay in south texas!

I guess nobody is really thinking about the amount of people that are going to be leaving the valley if a hurricane is going to hit the valley. Has anybody crossed the bridge from Mexico to the U.S lately? On the weekends the line ranges from 1hr to up to 2hrs thats with 4 lanes open and thats maybe 200 cars. During the evacuation theres going to be thousands of vehicles leaving the valley. Now lets say you fill up in the valley, Raymondville is the last town that has gas stations then its 60 miles to the next gas station in Rivera which only has 3 gas stations. These gas stations are gonna be out of gas quick. How many hours are we gonna spend in lines to get out of here. Theres gonna be alot of cars stranded. Do the math people its easy to see whats gonna happen if were going to be checking for Ids. Instead of thinking "Oh no we cant have illegals leaving the valley" you should be thinking whats the quickest way to get my family to safety. Do we really need another Katrina mess so when can say "Uhh duh that didnt work, lets try something else next time" Next time is going to be too late.

If you know a hurricane is coming, you should be planning to do one of two things: plan to stay or plan to leave. If you plan to stay then you gather all the necessary items that you would need ahead of time-right? Same thing with leaving.
An evacuation is nothing more than an oversized fire drill from a school. If you move in an ORDERLY fashion then things should run smoothly. If you panic, it can spread fear and people can and may get hurt. By contacting the proper authorities and getting the necessary items (paperwork, identifications, etc.) together, the border patrol can DO THEIR JOB more efficiently.
Survival is the main goal I will admit. But chance favors the prepared mind.

One of the problems that occured with past hurricanes is that nobody evacuates when they are supposed to. People are told to evacuate at certain times depending where you live. But ofcourse, people dont listen, they wait till the very last minute. If people would evacuate when they are supposed to, the check point wouldn't be so congested. Also, the govenment should make everyone have a passport, not only if you leave the country. That way they dont have to be checking ID's & Birth certificates, and trying to validate whether they are fake. Or the State of Texas needs to stop giving drivers license and temporary Social Security Numbers to these illegal immigrants.

Homeland Security is really a rather shipshod run organization. They screwed up in Katrina..Cannot organise a decent program for the border,. They have resolved to put up a wall because they cannot come up with a proper program. It is a real shame and that Cherkoff dude is dumb as two planks of wood

I completely agree with Hector's comment!
I couldn't have said it better myself!
Too bad there are so many ignorant people out there.

Again, ignorance. Hurricanes do not only come of the golf coast, what if it is coming form the other direction. You want them to drive straight into the hurricane. People need to start using common sense.

The people complaining probably cant get past checkpoint either, or have relatives that are illegal. Do they "have to" go north? Just go south.

First of all it is a violation of a federal law for anyone to be in the US illegally. If the illegal aliens cared sooo much about the safety of thier family they would retun to the country that they are citizens of with thier children and get out of the path of the hurricane. No one says that they need to go north into the US. The way things are in todays society you are going to have alot of illegal alien criminals trying to blend in with the innocent folks that really need the help.

Why don't we start suing police departments for traffic stops while we're at it. Boder Patrol is doing what we need and pay them to do.

The comments stated by the LUPE group about the Hurrican Evacuation immigration checks conducted by Border Patrol were completely off the wall. As our Police Officers safe guarding our cities, they have a responsibility to serve and protect and do their job no matter what. Border Patrol is a Law Enforcement entity and is Mandated by the President to perform a job no one else wants to do. They have to safeguard the United States before anything else and this includes conducting immigration inspection even during adverse conditions. What do we really want? Do we want terroristic groups to have an opprotunity to enter the United States so that they can do more damage, or did we forget about the thousands of people that lost their lives during 9/11. Terrorist are opportunistic groups and if they know that Border Patrol will not conduct immigration inspections during a Hurrican Evacuation, they will take that opportunity. Come on people its not about the "Hispanic" issue, its about safeguarding our Country.

Hector.

I know you never been in a evacuation, it's not 100 people leaving at the same time it's alot. I was near New Orleans and also in Florida when a hurricane was coming and it's not fun being stuck bumper to bumper,or I guess you don't watch the news on tv.

I believe that the border patrol must do its job in the event of evacuation during hurrican season. It seems that if illegals are here they must be detained and let the government take care of them. If certain family memebers are legal and abolita as they say is not, then take her home to whereever it is she is from. I do not believe that they really what to be Americans because if they did they would not be illegals. There are very few immigrants but, a whole lot of illegals who what there cake and eat it too. The border patrol will issue enought notice to sort all illegals out. Thank you

This is a federal government program. They have related that they would not slow down individuals during a hurriance. It seems people think we should open our borders to all to go North. I feel that all bridges should be closed coming out of Mexico during this time period. Let them head South and not North. If we would stop all the free ad and take care of our own this country would be a lot better off.

unlike other people who don't have to travel regularly through the checkpoint, i know for a fact that the checkpoint would seriously impede an evacuation and therefore endanger my family from safely moving out of the course of the hurricane. Also, I have enough sense not to believe we can evacuate half a million people though one highway alone... there are only 3 ways out of the valley (one is HWY83 west and two are HWY 77 and HWY281 north) and I am sure we would all want our families to have access to immediate expedient evacuation through all routes. plus i am tired of all the hate rhetoric from minutemen and kkk sympathizers (their thoughts are so last century)

Which hispanics to these groups represent exactly? Not me. My folks paid their dues, stood in long lines and got the required paperwork they needed to be here legally. And no, they weren't rich, in any sense of the word. They were Mexican by the way. You "immigrant" rights activists are anti-american, pro open border, lawless people who hide behind an "non profit" religious curtain. I think the churches that get involved in this issue need to start paying taxes or simply shut up and let the BP do their job.

To respond to a comment made regarding this story and the lawsuit, the problem is not necessarily with not allowing border patrol to "do their job," the problem lies in how they do their job. The Constitution provides certain safeguards from abuse by law enforcement, and in a time of crisis/emergency such as in a hurricane evacuation, people generally expect to be able to travel safely and quickly out of harm's way. One lesson learned during the Rita evacuation is that no one could have anticipated the congestion and length of time it took to get out of Houston/Galveston (2-3 days just to get to Austin or Dallas). Regardless of which route you take (83 or 281), any potential impediment to the safe and efficient flow of traffic created by law enforcement must be explained to those affected (potentially over a million people in the Valley - remember the Rita evac affected about 3 million and 113 lives were lost indirectly related to Rita and evacuation). The other issue is that law enforcement policies must not be implemented in a discriminatory manner, also a guarantee under the constitution. Statements made in the press by BP have not alleviated any of the above concerns.

I don't see what all this B.S. over an open Border Patrol check point while a hurricane is upon us, is all about. These boy's are doing what they were hired to do. You want to get away from the hurricane go West Highway 83 is in good shape take it leave the area. Why go North? it is not necessary. What is the problem here afraid some illegal immigrant will get cought.