Tracking the Border

     The Observer holds an article titled 'A Texas Militaman Reconsiders the Mission'. The author's intended audience is basically the uninformed public. The author himself was a supporter of Fox News until he went out and experienced first hand what the new was telling him stories about. According to him, that's all they were. Stories. He served in the militia and this first-hand experience is what gives him the credibility he proudly holds.
     Gilbert claims that Fox News distorts the truth by showing the militia in a good light when really they are not handling the problem ethically. Gilbert was part of the Texas Border Volunteers and he said, “You can set up here and watch Fox News and say ‘these alien bastards, we need to shut the border down’ But what I saw coming through Brooks County was humanity.” Gilbert first handedly witnessed the procedures that were taken into effect by the TBV and realized that he didn’t want to partake in this organization. From Gilbert’s viewpoint, the TBV isn’t focusing on the health of the immigrants they are simply just detaining them when medical care is needed. It struck his morality when he saw a young male’s body hunched over a tree, lifeless.  This is when he realized that giving medical care should be a higher priority than what the TBV was doing.

                I agree with Gilbert that things need to be done differently. The TBV needs to adopt the moral and ethical ways of life. About 15 members of the TBV, including Gilbert, quit and instead joined the Texas Border Rescue which is a “humanitarian-focused search and rescue group”. I think the TBV and TBR need to combine their efforts because this is what will make them the most effective. Procedure plus ethics goes a long way.