Observations from the U.S./Mexico Border
by Judy Plank, WAMM
It seems appropriate to begin writing my observations of life on the U.S./Mexico border while a surveillance plane circles overhead.
I spent most of my life in Minnesota and Iowa, but the past five years have found me wintering in Douglas, Arizona, the twin city to Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico. Five years ago, a simple fence and ditch divided one city from the other. Kids who did not want to walk a mile down to the official border crossing would hop the fence back and forth to visit friends and relatives on either side. Border crossers on their way north also crossed, attempting to elude the border patrol within city limits.
Five years and hundreds of more border patrol agents later, a new border patrol station is in the construction stage. Now a high wall separates Douglas from Agua Prieta-a wall that extends at least five miles to the east and is currently being extended both east and west by uniformed troops that seem to be National Guard members.
Here in Douglas, young men throw rocks and authorities return fire with bullets--all with little publicity. Such an incident was reported here in January. Most border crossers are unarmed and frightened and do not throw rocks. Hundreds are apprehended by the border patrol and returned to Mexico each day.
Tensions have increased with the relentless militarization of the border. Joint Taskforce-6 (JTF-6) Army helicopters are now being used to support the U.S. Border Patrol efforts to capture Mexican border crossers in Southern Arizona. In our fragile desert, the helicopters--along with the increased bright lights, barriers, and vehicle traffic--affect not only the local residents and border crossers, but also wildlife, including endangered species. Of course, before disrupting and building in fragile areas, the preparation and approval of environmental impact statements are required, but these requirements have been circumvented.
The expansion of the border walls miles into the desert has resulted in more deaths. The border crossers must now trek north through remote, inhospitable desert. But deaths also come from auto accidents in attempts to outrun the border patrol, and border patrol agents sometimes cause deaths more directly. Last week, a border patrol agent here in Arizona "accidentally" shot and killed an unarmed border crosser.
Remember: The only crime these border crossers have committed is to enter the U.S. without papers in an attempt to find work. They are leaving a labor economy dominated by the maquiladoras: foreign-owned assembly plants for the production of export goods. The U.S.-owned maquiladoras in Agua Prieta pay five to eight dollars per day to their workers.
Many of these people are from Southern Mexico, where cheap U.S. corn flooded the Mexican market and put hundreds of local peasant farmers off their land. The strongest, brightest of their young begin the journey north. Others come from El Salvador or Honduras, victims of hurricanes and earthquakes. They are desperate young people escaping desperate conditions to help their families back home.
In November 2000, a group of faith-based and other local activists from our Douglas area formed a group called "Healing Our Border." We hold weekly vigils at the border in remembrance of all who have died. Unfortunately, we have had to add new crosses as the deaths continue.
The U.S./Mexico border is our own low-intensity warfare frontline, where the direct effects of multinational globalization are very visible. The U.S. government's "war on drugs" has provided an additional excuse and has financed much of this invasive build-up along the border.
An Ely, Minnesota, resident wrote the following letter to the Douglas newspaper recently: "I'm a 'snowbird' here in Douglas and volunteer . . . I used to stay at the Plantation RV Park, but got tired of the border patrol helicopter terrorizing the area. I think it is too bad we live in a country where the government does not get any local input in their decisions when they send the army in." A later reply to his letter told him to go back home if he doesn't like it.
I hope he does go back home and tells everyone what is happening here on the border. That's exactly what I am attempting to do. I will be returning home with photos, slides, news articles, and personal items left in the desert by fleeing border crossers. I hope to make real the hardships endured by some of the people we see on the streets, in the stores, working in meat processing plants and low-income service jobs all around Minnesota and the U.S.
Resources
Borderlinks
710 E. Speedway Blvd.
Tucson, Arizona 85719
520-628-826
borderlinks@igc.apc.org
www.igc.apc.org/borderlinks
Resource Center of the Americas
3019 Minnehaha Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55406
612-276-0788 (phone)
612-276-0898 (fax)
www.americas.org
Southwest Alliance to Resist Militarization (SWARM)
P.O. Box 384
Tucson, Arizona 85702
520-218-5541 (phone)
swarm@resistmilitarization.org
www.resistmilitarization.org