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FRONTERAS: Life Of A Border Agent; Bipartisan DACA Support; Hispanics And Heart Disease

Martin do Nascimento / KUT News
A DACA rally in Austin

This week on Fronteras:

  • Border Patrol agents go through extremes on the job, ranging from extreme boredom to high-stress situations. 0:00
  • Some immigrant laborers who responded to Harvey don’t get paid.  4:05

  • Bi-partisan support in Texas for new DREAM Act legislation to protect recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program from deportation.  5:43

  • A study on discrimination shows many Latinos weren’t encouraged to pursue higher education. 8:20

  • A  binational study of heart disease is looking at how it affects people of Mexican ancestry. 13:23

Credit Photo credit: Brandon Quester / inewsource
Above:Border Patrol agent Joshua Wilson radios dispatchers to notify them of his location while touring the U.S.-Mexico border near Jacumba in eastern San Diego County on Sept. 5, 2017.

Border Patrol Agents Can Face Danger On The Job

The death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent is bringing to light the dangers of monitoring immigration and drug smuggling on the border. Investigative reporter Jean Guerrero of KPBS in San Diego had a chance to look into a border patrol agent’s day-to-day activity. In her series, “America’s Wall,” she got a detailed description from the vice president of the San Diego chapter of the National Border Patrol Council, Joshua Wilson.

 

Credit Davis Land Houston Public Media
Workers stage cleanup equipment along Buffalo Bayou two months after Harvey.

Some Immigrant ‘Second Responders’ To Harvey Robbed Of Wages

In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, immigrant day laborers stepped in to help Houstonians rebuild. But a new report shows a quarter of those workers had wages stolen from them. Houston Public Media’s Ed Mayberry reports many of those so called “second responders” — workers who clean up sites during and after an event requiring first responders — are not in a position to report those wage thefts to authorities because they’re  undocumented.

Texas Republican, Democrat Support DREAM Legislation

A political rarity happened in Dallas this week: a bipartisan event favoring immigration reform. Two members of Congress — a Democrat and a Republican — spoke out for what’s been dubbed DREAM legislation. That’s new deportation protection for current DACA recipients, young people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as minors by their parents under President Obama’s DACA program.  KERA’s Bill Zeeble reports.

Many Latinos Say They Weren’t Encouraged To Apply ForCollege

More than half of U.S. Latinos say applying to college was never discussed with them by anyone, according to a recent survey on discrimination NPR conducted with Harvard and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The report by Shereen Marisol Meraji originally aired on NPR’s “All Things Considered” on Nov. 7. has more.

Credit Texas Biomedical Research Institute
Raul A. Bastarrachea and Jack W. Kent, Jr.

Binational Study In Mexico, U.S. To Predict, Prevent Heart Disease

According to the American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer the U.S.  — and the Hispanic population is at greater risk for problems like heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes. Now, a binational study is allowing scientists in San Antonio to pinpoint the early signs of heart disease in people of Mexican ancestry. The  Genetics of Metabolic Diseases in Mexico — or Genética de las Enfermedades Metabólicas en México — Family Study will look at healthy individuals from across Mexico to find out whether cardiovascular disease can be predicted and, ultimately, prevented.

TPR spoke with principal researchers of the GEMM Family Study, Dr. Raul Bastarrachea and Jack Kent, Jr., of the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio.

​Norma Martinez can be reached via email at norma@tpr.org and on Twitter @NormDog1

Norma Martinez can be reached at norma@tpr.org and on Twitter at @NormDog1