Should a hurricane or other life-threatening, catastrophic weather event impact South Texas, illegal aliens occupying various shelters will be first in line to get “to safer ground,” a National Weather Service coordinator says.
At a meeting last week, emergency managers in the Rio Grande Valley region addressed the reality that, in addition to picking up the tab for putting the immigrants up, they have also accepted responsibility for their safety. That means ensuring illegal aliens have a safe evacuation from temporary and permanent shelters during an emergency.
“You have extra sheltering areas and detention centers right here,” NWS Coordinator Barry Goldsmith told KRGV News. “And are they able to withstand the wind, are they able to withstand flood waters nearby to get humanitarian relief.”
Goldsmith is worried that if a hurricane or other emergency hits, the evacuation of some 4,000 illegal aliens could be impeded by citizens also trying to reach safety.
One way to ensure the illegals remain safe is to evacuate them before the general population receives evacuation orders, Valley city leaders have concluded.
“The entire Valley detention areas will be evacuated first,” said Goldsmith. “In other words, before the public gets their mandatory evacuation, the plan is to get all these unaccompanied women and children out of the Valley and to safer ground.”
The city and federal officials say by getting unaccompanied alien women and children out first, they are trying to avoid a Hurricane Rita-type situation, where more than 100 people died during the mass exodus of 2.5 million people from the Houston area.
No comments:
Post a Comment