Around 1970-1972 I used to visit the local USBP Detention Center. I was a grade school student and my friends and I would ride our bicycles from our town, Imperial California,
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to the nearby larger community, El Centro California
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El Centro had fast food, shopping malls, large parks and many other attractions that people our age could enjoy on a warm summer day. Back then, Imperial was quite small with a population of around 3,000 people and very little to do once we had worn out the Bill Cosby and Smothers Brothers comedy albums at the public library.
On some occasions we would visit my Aunt Blanche who lived in El Centro. On the way to her house we rode up a dirt road that passed the USBP Detention Center located near Oleander Avenue and N 12th Street.
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At that time it was small set of buildings surrounded by a tall fence. The dirt road ran along the north side of the facility. As we passed we would look at the people inside milling about, playing soccer with a ball made of knotted shirts or men just sitting in the shade trying to stay cool. If they saw us looking, they would wave and we would wave back. Today it is much larger and more secure than it was in 1970, back then we could walk right up to the fence and talk to the people being detained.
One day as we passed by the facility a man called out to us and asked us to come over to the fence. We rode over and asked what he wanted. He said he would give us a dollar to go to the store and buy him some Hershey Chocolate Bars. A Hershey Bar cost ten cents back then so getting a dollar to bring back a couple of candy bars was too good of a deal to pass up for young entrepreneurs like ourselves.
Soon we were making five or ten dollars every weekend buying sundries and food items for the people held at the detention center. We became proficient at predicting our customer's needs and servicing their desire for unavailable foodstuffs and toiletries.
Of course we eventually came to the attention of the Border Patrol Agents who served as guards. They also hired us to fetch items not readily available to them in the facility.
All good things must come to an end and this youthful enterprise was no different.
I'm not sure what motivated the change, some policy directive or maybe a change of attitude about detainees and the general public interacting. We showed up on Saturday morning as usual and were greeted by BP Agents we had never met before. They instructed us to leave the area and to never return to the facility. We were instructed that unauthorized communication with the detainees was against the law and that we were no longer allowed to fraternize with the prisoners.
To be honest, I never thought of the people held there as prisoners or guards they were cash customers in need of goods and services.
We dutifully complied, we weren't about crime or being criminals. We just wanted the money to buy a cold soda, hamburger and fries after riding all the way from Imperial to El Centro in 110 degree heat. Ok, sometimes we stopped at Shakey's Pizza for the all you can eat buffet but you get the idea. We were kids looking to make some cash for movies and food.
All in all it was a positive experience for me.
I was able to befriend USBP Agents who taught me law enforcement can be your friend if you are honest and friendly. I was exposed to other cultures in a relatively safe manner where I could learn about people from around the world. Most of our customers in detention were from Mexico but some were from Central America, South America and we even met some Europeans that had been caught with expired travel visas.
I also learned the basics of how to run a small business.
I recently visited my old home town and I wanted to show my wife the facility and drive past the house my Aunt Blanche had lived in back then. The Detention Facility is not the same. It appears to have been torn down and a new one built in 1975. I don't know what changed so that they needed this new facility but it is not the laid back and open place I remember. Now it looks like a prison and none of the inmates look like the people I remember. Back then the inmates looked like a group of sad men waiting to go to work, now they are all clearly very sad prisoners.
It also appears that the Agents have changed too.
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I wish them all better luck and happiness in the future.
So there is my first experience with The United States Border Patrol.
Next up, My Second Experience with the US Border Patrol.