The Border Crisis and My Grandfather
My paternal grandfather, Jose Chavira, was born on October 26th, 1896, on the family ranch near Shafter, Texas. He lived and worked there into early adulthood. Two or three times, my grandfather told me of the terror wrought by “los rinchas.” I learned that “rinchas” was the Spanish pronunciation of rangers, as in Texas Rangers. Shafter is between Marfa and Big Bend National Park in far southwestern Texas.
From Marfa south to the border where Presidio, Texas, and Ojinaga, Chihuahua meet, Rangers roamed. There and in other parts of Texas, they murdered Mexicans with impunity. For this reason, Jose was afraid to travel far. He knew the Rangers would not hesitate to kill him for no reason.
This information is presented courtesy of the Texas Historical Society:
With Texas’ proximity to the Mexican Revolution and U.S. involvement in World War I, the nation confronted racial and social instability that fed, and fed on, the bloody conflicts.
Schemes to claim tracts of the U.S. for Mexico were publicized—some might say propagandized—building on the paranoia already prevalent in that area. Stories of bloodshed created a state of dread among residents on both sides of the border.
Ultimately, U.S. troops were dispatched to the border—more than 100,000 from California to Texas. These troops, Texas Rangers, and other state officials were tasked with policing the border. With the manpower pouring over the border, the presence of these troops dramatically heightened tensions—escalating an already volatile situation.
Only a month before the Porvenir Massacre in 1918, several Texans—mostly Mexican American citizens—were killed at Brite Ranch on Christmas Day 1917, allegedly by revolutionaries from Mexico.
Porvenir was a remote community in northwest Presidio County on the Rio Grande. The small farming and ranching settlement was the site of a notorious tragedy that took place amid military conflicts, raids across and along the international border, and in the immediate area during the Mexican Revolution.
A group of Texas Rangers from Company B in Marfa, U.S. Army soldiers from Troop G of the 8th Cavalry, and local ranchers arrived at Porvenir early on January 28th, 1918. They came to Manuel Moralez’s ranch. They separated 15 able-bodied men and boys from the women, children, and other men.
Though initial accounts denied any wrongdoing, later testimony confirmed that these 15 victims were shot and killed.
Family members crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico to bury Antonio Castañeda, Longino Flores, Pedro Herrera, Vivian Herrera, Severiano Herrera, Manuel Moralez, Eutemio González, Ambrosio Hernández, Alberto García, Tiburcio Jáquez, Róman Nieves, Serapio Jiménez, Pedro Jiménez, Juan Jiménez, and Macedonio Huertas.
In June 1918, Gov. William P. Hobby and Adjutant Gen. James A. Harley disbanded Company B, dismissed five Rangers for their actions at Porvenir, and forced Capt. J.M. Fox’s resignation.
State Rep. J.T. Canales filed charges with the Legislature against the Texas Rangers for the oppression and murder of hundreds of ethnic Mexicans along the Rio Grande.
At an investigation beginning January 31st, 1919, legislators heard and received testimony regarding several incidents, including Porvenir. As a result, the Texas Rangers were reorganized and reduced in size. In the aftermath of the attack, approximately 140 remaining residents of Porvenir abandoned the community.
Context is important.
Between 1910 and 1919, the Rangers were responsible for the deaths of 300 to 5,000 people, most of them Mexicans.
They implemented a “brand of lynch law” against Mexicans and Tejanos, executing at least 300 “suspected Mexicans” without trial.
The Mexican Revolution of 1910 made the southwestern border extremely dangerous.
The U.S. Army established several posts in Presidio County. Marfa became the headquarters for the Big Bend Military District. In 1917, the Army established Camp Marfa to protect the border.
Barbed wire, spotlights, tanks, machine guns, and airplanes were brought in to surveil Mexican residents and maintain “order” in the borderlands.
The Mexican Border War (1910-1919) saw numerous skirmishes between U.S. forces and various Mexican factions.
My grandfather was illiterate and never learned English. To some extent, he was an American citizen in name only. In fact, Jose carried with him a card from the Immigration and Naturalization Service that certified he was a citizen. Still, he suffered countless racially motivated indignities, including a savage beating by a deputy sheriff in Sierra Blanca, Texas.
Several years before his death, I took my grandfather back to his homeland, a dry, dusty, and desolate place. He reminisced about life on the ranch and the peril surrounding him and his family.
I asked if he was happy to be back in Texas. “No, son. I suffered too much here,” he replied.
The current demonization of Mexico and its people has troubling, recent roots. However, I am afraid nobody will consider that, least of all, the Trump regime.
But my grandfather’s trauma is still fresh in my memory.
Ricardo Chavira Chicano 