Corruption has made its way into almost every city in the United States. There are news stories that air weekly about politicans, officers, and even lawyers falling prey to rigged elections, drug busts, and even money fraud. Sadly, it seems to become a part of the American way; to obtain a government job and then find a way to make easy money on the side. One city has seen more than its fair-share of corruption to last a lifetime. Brownsville, Texas is one of the poorest cities in America and a hotbed for corrupted city officals. Over the past few years, many of their highly regarded city officals have been brought to court or investigated by the FBI. One has to imagine that if the low economic rate of the city and its corrupt city officals go hand-in-hand. This essay will examine the history of and reason poverty and corruptness in Brownsville Texas as well as to refute any counterarguments that may say otherwise about the issue. In order to understand the city that these corrupted officals work in, an overview of the situation is needed.
In an article titled “The 25 Richest and Poorest American Cities” by Kali Holloway, a senior writer and associate editor for Alternet, she composes a list of where the most richest and poorest cities can be found in America along with the cities’ poverty rate, household income, home value, and unemployment rate. In the section of the poorest American cities, Brownsville is ranked number one on the list. The poverty rate is 35.2% and unemployment rate at 6.8%. (Holloway, 2015). This level of poverty and unemployment leaves no where for any person to escape the city, thus letting crime breed and spread throughout it. The average median household income in Brownsville is $32, 093 and home value is $76, 200, so even if someone tried to sell their house to move away they would not be able to go far from the Rio Valley unless they were saving for years (Holloway, 2015). These numbers are proof that some city officals would willingly dabble with corrupt behavior so can they provide for themselves or their families and friends.
Just these past years, numerous city officals have been arrested due to corruption or drug busts. In one case, “Officials with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, Texas Rangers and Cameron County District Attorney’s Office reportedly raided the offices of Tax Collector-Assessor Tony Yzaguirre. He and three others were arrested on charges that include bribery, oppression and engaging in criminal activity” (“Our shame: Year begins with new charges of corruption in Valley offices”, 2016). Although Yzaguirre was arrested, he still plans to run for another city official postion in the upcoming elections and currently he is running unopposed. If he is able to secure another official seat, then the corruption will only continue to spread throughout the city. In the editorial, the author states that it is likely that these corrupt, and if charged, officals will run again because, “Valley voters keep electing the same people over and over, insisting that even those who commit crimes are “buena gente.” After officials are found guilty of crimes, we often receive calls of support, the callers insisting that they would vote again for the convicted officials if they could” (Our shame: Year begins with new charges of corruption in Valley offices”, 2016). Another case were a city official was arrested and investigated by the FBI happened with Hidalgo County’s top sheriff Brig Marmolejo. Marmolejo was charged with federal bribery, money laundering, and racketerring. When federal agents raided Marmolejo’s property, they found farm equipment that belonged to Eleazar Morin, a known drug trafficker, who was already in custody in the county jail (Draper, 1994). However, they failed to find the $147,000 and expensives watches ($1,000 each) that Marmolejo allegedly took from an inmate for bribes. The watches were also offered to other sherrifs and when they asked him whether to accept them, Marmokejo told them it was “up to them”. Marmolejo’s laidback demeanor towards the crime in his county is another fine example of how corruption can spread through city officals. He was known to accept bribes and even be friendly to criminals that had a hard rap sheet. His demeanor began to rub off on other officers to where they also believed that were abouve the law and coulde accept bribes without any kind of reprocussion. Many of the people who live in Brownsville are tired of having to deal with the corruption that has been plaguing the city for years. They do not want to city to be continually known that the place where city officals can break the law and get away with it.
FBI agent Fred Olivares moved from California to the Rio Valley area and was astounded by the amount of corruption that ran rampant in the area. “In San Diego, we had to work to develop corruption cases. In McAllen we didn’t have enough manpower to handle the cases. Down there, it was pick and choose,” he said in an interview with Express News (MacCormack, 2016). Even people who have ran for city council in the area are fed up with the issues that are surrounding the place. Richard Diaz wrote up a detailed three-page reprt on how the corruption is at a lost in the area and how investigators just give up on it afterwhile. It is almost as if there are more corruption cases in the area than there are good law-abiding officals to deal with it. A Brownsville native, and college professor, Anthony Knopp is saddening to see the state of affairs that his city is in. “It’s just appalling. A lot of people I talk to down here are very exasperated by the continued reality of corruption that permeates local government here in the Valley” (MacCormack, 2016). He also states that even cities such as New Orleans, Chicago, and New York have it bad with their crimes cases, but they are almost lucky to not have to deal with an almost corrupt city official lineup. It is hard to imagine a whole city living under the corrupt rue of city leaders and even police officers. One has to wonder what the safety to people would be like if criminals are able to bride their way out of jail and continue living as if nothing has happened. The FBI has noted that there has been a surge of cases that range from 2012 to 2014. It is impossible to deny that corruption is not a problem in Brownsville Texas and the surrounding areas when statistics show that it is steadily increasing. With the evidence given, it has been shown that the corruptness of the city has been going on since 1994 until now, 2016, which is a very deplorable display of how deep corruption runs in that area.
Brownsville Texas is an area that has seen corruption within its city halls for decades. No amount of FBI investigations and arrests have made a dent in the case of city officals being arrested for various criminal acts. The poverty and low employment rate can be attributed to the fact that the officals are dabbling in illegal activies as a means to make some extra money. In some cases, officals are arrested and the charges are dropped allowing the official to be able to run for office again. There are some people of the town who believe that the city officals are good people despite their criminal activity and vote them back into office. When corruption runs this deep, there is nothing the FBI can do but to continue investigations an hope that the corrupt officals fall for their trap. One can only hope that the city of Brownsville and surrounding areas are cleared of the corruption and are able to live in a place where the officals are looking out for the citizens and not themselves.
Works Cited:
"Our Shame: Year Begins with New Charges of Corruption in Valley Offices." Brownsville Herald. Brownsville Herald, 8 Jan. 2016. Web. 26 June 2016.
Draper, Robert. "The Sheriff Who Went to Pot - Texas Monthly." Texas Monthly. Texas Monthly, 01 Dec. 1994. Web. 26 June 2016.
Holloway, Kali. "The 25 Richest and Poorest American Cities." Alternet. Alternet, 15 Oct. 2015. Web. 26 June 2016.
MacCormack, John. "South Texas a Hotbed of Public Corruption." San Antonio Express-News. San Antonio Express-News, 12 Mar. 2016. Web. 26 June 2016.
