Humanizing The Border Patrol

This little prickly pear cactus flower popped open this morning.  I think it was just waiting for a little rain for some encouragement and a couple days of temperatures under triple digits.


I've recovered nicely from the heat exhaustion and dehydration and filed a complaint today at the Border Patrol checkpoint for the sorry way I was treated last Friday.  The Agent-in-Charge was falling all over himself in apologies.  

At one point he said that sometimes the front line agents are so focused on illegals that they aren't really thinking clearly about anything else.  My response to him was whether someone is a citizen or not, any person experiencing a medical emergency should be dealt with dignity and respect for human life.  Citizenship status should be secondary at that moment.

He agreed and I sped away with a degree of satisfaction, hoping that maybe sometime in the future an agent might show a little bit of compassion to someone floundering in the heat of the unforgiving desert.

Edit:  I just realized I never explained what happened.  It was 106F.  I had spent several hours in the sun poking around in Tubac.  I was drenched with sweat and over-heated badly.  I asked an agent at the checkpoint when I arrived there if I could go inside to cool off for ten minutes while I let my car run so the a/c could cool it down.  He said no, even after I told him I was experiencing a medical emergency.