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| Tonks Misbehaving |
The title "Tonk" is used almost exclusively by the Border Patrol. Before the reign of Jimmy Carter and his worthless INS Commissioner, Leonel Castillo, the term was used "in the clear" on the radio. Subsequent to that not-so-dynamic duo, it has been used only in private conversations between Agents.
Officially, "Tonk" is an acronym which stands for "Territory of origin not known". It is used to describe an individual who has not yet been intensively interviewed by the Border Patrol to determine his or her country of origin. As everyone knows, ethnicity is not a reliable indicator of nationality. Just because a person is of obvious Latin extraction it does not necessarily follow that the person is Mexican. Under Border Patrol administrative procedure it it vital to discover a Tonk's nationality. Mexicans (in theory), unless they have entered the U.S. without inspection several times, are simply shooed-over the border at the nearest Port of Entry. If a Mexican has been apprehended several times, the Old Patrol would have set him/her up for formal deportation.
An alien of Latin ethnicity (or any other ethnicity for that matter) who is not a Mexican national cannot be pushed back into Mexico. They must be put on an airplane and sent back to the country of their nationality. These people are known as OTM's, or "Other Than Mexicans".
There is plenty of room for confusion in the matter of determining nationality. Nationals of countries South of the United States come in all hues: Asian, Anglo, Black, Latin. Frequently, a Tonk from another country will try to pass as a national of Mexico in order to avoid being sent back to his real home turf. Some will calim U. S. citizenship (whether with the aid of documents or without). Should the individual "break" under questioning and admit the truth, the person could be looking at some serious prison time (at least under the Old Patrol's watch).
Let me be very clear: "Tonk" is not a term or racial derision; it is a temporary geographic description. Once, I apprehended a female Tonk. She was Black and made an oral false claim to U. S. citizenship. She claimed to have been born and raised in New Orleans. Non-withstanding her accent (which was nowhere near a Louisiana accent), I took her back to the station for further questioning. When she couldn't recall the name of the street in New Orleans with the trolly tracks, I knew that she'd break. She finally admitted that she was from Belize. She was no longer a Tonk at that point and we sent her home.
