Growing up in the RGV, there are certain things we assume everyone else experiences. Maybe it’s just my ignorance that I didn’t realize until my 20s that checkpoints are unique to the region I grew up in. Not something to brag about, but something to point out to my friends north of the Valle.
View as I was headed towards the Falfurrias checkpoint.
As a 4th gen American on one side of the family, and 1st gen American on the other side, it’s confusing to explain the mixture of feelings that several of us who are of immigrant background feel. Let me be more specific, the majority of us Americans are immigrants, but I’m referring to immigrants of color.
It’s not too different from that insecurity brewing inside when I’ve crossed south of the border and into Mexico. I’ve heard others say it’s the fear we carry from our recent ancestors.
The checkpoints I mostly go through are the ones in Falfurrias and La Sarita. Going up north to visit family in Corpus Christi, Austin, or San Antonio every couple of times a year. Several undocumented immigrants stuck in valley purgatory, neither able to go north of here or south of here.
Another thing to point out, San Antonio is often referred to as South Texas, but us in actual South Texas consider it to be Central Texas. S.A. is not the furthest, but it is still a 4-5 hour car drive. Maybe it’s easier to just refer to the Valle as Deep South Texas.
Here are a couple of articles to introduce you to these checkpoints:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/teaching-rio-grande-valley-life-amid-checkpoints-n355261
Priscilla Celina Suárez 