The Border Patrol is huge about community outreach and its agents giving back to the communities they currently live in or have lived in.

I followed this advice and went to conduct a presentation at a local high school in Brownsville, Texas where I grew up. I started by providing an Operation Detour RGV presentation and then gave my personal testimony about how I grew up surrounded by gangs and near the river where alien smuggling was active. I spoke about how the Border Patrol Agents that patrolled the area I lived in would take a few minutes to talk to us kids in the neighborhood. That made a huge impact on my life and the

career path which I chose to follow.

Currently criminal organizations are targeting our youth even more than before. During my presentation I stressed to the kids about reaching out to their family members, educators, and law enforcement about the different options in life and to not fall victim to the lies they are being fed.

Once I completed my presentation, I was approached by a young man who was growing up in the same situation I had grown up in. He then told me how when he would see agents patrolling he would wonder what the job was about.

However, afraid about the consequences of being seen talking to a law enforcement officer, he was hesitant to approach them to ask questions.

He thanked me for conducting the presentation. We sat and talked for about thirty minutes about the job and life in general. I could tell he was listening and that he was in the same situation I grew up in. He shook my hand and thanked me for taking the time and said 'maybe we will be patrolling the same area someday'.

I walked away thinking hopefully, this is that instance where I made a difference in someone's life as someone did in mine.