Speech #820226656

On being questioned. Mr. Ginn stated: He had no objection to the manner in which the patrolmen drove down the road. he was satisfied that we were within our legal rights to enter and that he had no objection to our doing so. he stated we had never disturbed his family by passing the house and had never damaged his property in any way. he had always cooperated with the border patrol and did not object to our picking up his wetbacks. in fact. if we would call him on the phone he would bring the aliens into the office. but he did object to the lack of courtesy shown by not stopping at the house. bidding him good morning and telling him we were after his wetbacks. I told Mr. Ginn that we always tried to be courteous and to conduct our operations in a manner becoming to officers and gentlemen but that I felt his request was Impractical In that the aliens were almost certain to escape if the patrolmen stopped at the house before driving on and also such an act would be misconstrued by others to mean that we had to have permission to enter upon a farm. Mr. Glnn regretted that I felt that way but did not press the point. Instead he attempted to draw me into a discussion of politics in general. the probable actions of Congress in regards to pending immigration bills. the "Bracero" program. and economic conditions here in the Rio Grande Valley. During this discussion he made a blanket statement that he was not going to do any contracting under any labor agreement this year. Mr. Ginn is a very prominent man. He is county commissioner for Cameron County and has extensive farm holdings as well as other interests and he has in the past consistently employed a great many illegal aliens. He Is very personable and was entirely reasonable throughout the conference but I do not believe he was completely satisfied with the interview and in my opinion there will be incidents whenever the operations of this unit interfere with his farm labor requirements to any appreciable extent. I am not satisfied as to the real purpose of his visit but I do not believe he is actually concerned with the courtesies he requested.