By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO—One thing is clear about the operation of U.S. consulates along the U.S.-Mexico border: There needs to be a full-scale review of how well equipped they are to protect the interests of American citizens and their own employees.
This is the clear lesson of two incidents occurring within a few days of each other. First was the fatal shooting of two U.S. consular employees and one family member in Juarez, Mexico, on Sunday, March 14—an incident that has already come to the attention of the White House.
Second was the false arrest on March 15 and release from Mexican federal prison on March 17 of Nigerian-American citizen Okoronkwo Umeham after Mexican Marines at the U.S. border mistook for illicit drugs what really were dried vegetables he was bringing to a member of his extended family to make ugu soup.
This publication extensively detailed the unjust treatment that Umeham received in a story that ran on Sunday, March 21, and the San Diego Union-Tribune reprised portions of the story on Wednesday, March 24.
Perhaps there was a time when consulates were sleepy little diplomatic backwaters concerned primarily with promoting trade, goodwill and tourism between the two countries. But, international developments, especially along the Mexican-U.S. border, require far more important missions for the consulates. The consulates are on the front lines of two tense and important conflicts—the war against illicit drugs, and the war against international terrorists who seek access into the United States.—and their staffing levels and personnel choices need to reflect that.
Because it may be symptomatic of deeper problems at the consulate, the conduct of U.S. consular officials in Umeham’s situation especially bears looking into.
According to Umeham, 73, a consular official came to the federal holding facility on March 16; gave Umeham a pamphlet on the Mexican justice system; predicted wrongly that Umeham never would see again the $544 that Mexican Marines confiscated from him along with the dried vegetables; and placed for him a call to his wife, Gail, so Umeham could advise her of his status.
The official never visited Umeham again, nor did he ever call the distraught wife with further news of her husband. Additionally, the consulate misinformed the office of Congressman Bob Filner (Democrat-San Diego), telling a staff member that although Umeham had illicit drugs, the Mexicans had decided to let him go anyway. In fact, chemical tests proved the harmlessness of the soup ingredients, which Umeham had purchased at a store in San Diego.
Over and above Umeham’s individual case, the incident raises the question of whether Americans who find themselves innocently in trouble have anyone competent to turn to at the U.S. consulate. Is this a problem of under-staffing? Is it a lack of interest on the part of consular officials in the welfare of American citizens? Is there confusion at the consulate over how important it is to render help to Americans under suspicion?
Given the volume of people crossing the San Diego-Tijuana border, considered the busiest in the world, other innocent Americans are bound to run afoul of Mexican authorities and they will need someone they can trust to turn to.
In Umeham’s case, “fees” ranging from $1,500 to $5,000 reportedly were solicited by intermediaries from friends and family members to get him out. Although such payments were never made, the solicitations illustrated how, without being able to depend on the help of U.S. officials, victims of false arrests and their families can become subject to possible extortion by unscrupulous persons in Mexico.
Congressional hearings and a State Department review of the status and roles of border consulates are very much needed.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World