A Hispanic version of ‘The Talk’ is needed as border crisis finally becomes reality

Carlos Sanchez and his daughter Aviana, a student at the University of Texas at San Antonio.  

By Carlos Sanchez  

I read several poignant essays during the era of George Floyd written by African American parents about “The Talk” they had with their children – particularly their sons – on how to deal with police. 

And while I could relate to these parent’s fears, I never thought about directly confronting “The Talk.” But as President Trump rode into office in January on a promise to launch the greatest deportation effort in the history of this country, I found myself compelled to talk with my adult children. 

Without realizing the connection, I sat down with them last Christmas and had the Hispanic version of “The Talk,” making sure they understood their rights if ever confronted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the U.S. Border Patrol. 

This was particularly applicable for my youngest child, Aviana, who was completing her college degree at the University of Texas at San Antonio, a campus that stood four hours – and one Border Patrol checkpoint – from our home in Deep South Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border. 

If she ever took a bus, which she occasionally did, from McAllen to San Antonio, there was a likelihood that agents would board the bus and demand everyone prove their citizenship. She was an adult, I told her, and free to make her own decision about how to respond. But she had a right under the U.S. Constitution not to answer. Agents may try to intimidate her, even detain her, but she had a 5th Amendment right to remain silent. 

I have a light-hearted, gregarious relationship with my daughter that is filled with jokes and laughter. But I saw the tinge of fear in her eyes as she realized how serious I was. 

Since Inauguration Day, that fear has been spreading throughout my South Texas community, stoked by false rumors and fake social media posts about ICE raids, and bolstered by the high visibility presence of Border Patrol vehicles leading convoys of military vehicles through our streets as part of Trump’s initial deployment of military to our region. 

Traffic seems a little lighter and at least one local rancher said he has never confronted a situation in which his employees have called in sick, admitting they heard ICE was in the neighborhood and they didn’t want to venture down the street. 

A lawyer friend who specializes in dealing with federal courts said he is now routinely getting calls from concerned relatives who said someone in their family was detained, but they can get no information about the detainee’s status. My friend said he can spend hours calling federal immigration agencies trying to track down the detainee, often resorting to threats of legal action if the agency isn’t forthcoming. 

One long-time elected official, who has spent decades in public service, told me that he has never seen such angst in our community. 

The irony is that border encounters with those illegally entering our country are at the lowest point since monthly numbers became publicly available in fiscal year 2000. The latest trend began during 2024 when then-President Biden began to implement stricter border policies but plummeted when Trump took office. 

"The Invasion of our Country is OVER," Trump posted on Truth Social in early March. Since the upsurge in migrant encounters that began in the Obama Administration, earning him the moniker “Deporter-in-chief,” the rhetoric about border communities has been hyperbolic and misleading. 

With the help of the first Trump administration and bolstered by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who earned a coveted national spotlight with his own fear-inducing rhetoric, an impression of lawlessness began to form around the border region. 

When the rhetoric stepped up to include invasion, another border community, El Paso, saw the slaughter in August of 2019 of 23 mostly Hispanic people and the wounding of 22 others. The suspect in that shooting was immediately tied to a manifesto that spoke of the Hispanic invasion. The shooter pleaded guilty to a 90-count indictment related to the attack in 2023 and received 90 consecutive life sentences. 

In South Texas, national politician after politician made their way to the border to “learn firsthand” about the immigration problem. Republicans invariably ended up doing a photo op on a state-owned gunboat because it looked much more ominous than anything the federal government had. And Democrats, including then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, did their photo ops at an immigrant shelter. 

Lost in all this commotion was the fact that, year after year, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook listed these border communities among the safest cities in the country. 

And while the stark images of thousands of migrants crossing illegally into the United States had a profound impact on the American psyche, few people inland understood that the vast majority of these people were lining up to turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents while claiming asylum. 

While the act of entering the country between official ports of entry is considered illegal, both national and international law makes allowances for legitimate asylum claims once a foreign national steps foot on U.S. soil. The migrants being bused from Texas to major cities across the country, which gave Abbott his national spotlight, were in the country legally. 

The complexity of immigration laws, the nuance of asylum claims and the visceral reaction that American nationalists have against foreigners have made immigration the top wedge issue of the day at a time when Congress is impotent on such major legislation. The last major immigration reform legislation was passed in 1987 when President Reagan was in office. 

And when even Gov. Abbott has publicly stated that border commerce must be as significant as border security, the tariffs that Trump is threatening in the name of border security seems destined to negatively affect border commerce. 

The border crisis that critics have been proclaiming for the last half decade finally appears on its way to becoming a reality. 

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Carlos Sanchez is director of Public Affairs for Hidalgo County in Deep South Texas and lives in McAllen. He is a member of the Overby Center panel of experts.