Thoughts of HoMan

Speaking at a hurricane preparedness gathering Tuesday at FEMA headquarters in Washington, Chertoff said he wanted to "drive a stake through the heart of a misapprehension which is out there."

Texas officials reacted with concern when patrol officials along the Texas-Mexico line said last week that checkpoints 75 miles north of the border would remain in operation during a hurricane evacuation. Officials also had said agents would make checks at evacuation hubs where fleeing residents lacking transportation would board buses.

Local emergency management officials feared the checkpoints could become bottlenecks for traffic fleeing the coast and the low-lying Rio Grande Valley, and could dissuade illegal immigrants and legal residents with undocumented family members from heading to safety.

The policy clarification continued locally Wednesday when Ronald Vitiello, chief of the Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley Sector, released a letter echoing Chertoff's remarks.

Krista Piferrer, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, termed the idea of operating the checkpoints in a hurricane "nonsensical" and said the state was pleased to be back on the same page with the federal government.

Not sure about anyone else but it seems like aploy to get the illegals in without having to say we are letting them in...we are "saving them"...