Week 2
I was amazed this week at how futile the militarized border of the U.S. seems. These chapters described the cunning organization of human smuggling, as well as the immigrants who cross repeatedly and the lackluster effort of the Mexican government to keep immigration under control. The U.S. expends an immense amount of money and effort and emotion into keeping borders “secure,” but I have to wonder if it’s really doing anything at all. Immigrants who are deported will find another way to come back. People like the Cerca brothers will continue to operate secretively in the U.S., right under the government’s noses. The Mexican government doesn’t even seem to want to keep its own people from leaving. The border fence peters out into a rusted, trodden-down barbed wire fence. So why the infrared cameras, and border agents parked at every half mile? As Saint Toribio said, we are citizens of the world, and if we can’t truly stop immigration, then why continue futile efforts? Fear. The answer is fear, as it always seems to be. Fear of drugs coming over and tainting our children. Fear of terrorists entering the U.S. to carry out attacks. Fear of the brown men and women who will take our jobs, slum our cities, and create crime in our country. It seems that a part of the real solution to the problems facing the border is to address that fear, and recognize that maybe it’s not them, but us. A man or woman cannot be blamed for seeking refuge from poverty, from running from disease and labor and violence. But we, as Americans, can certainly take the blame for letting an often unjustified fear take hold of us and cause the deaths and despair in the desert. The border agents took away a water tank when they realized it was used as a pickup point. Water! Taken from dying people. It is not the fault of immigrants, it is the fault of us, and until the fear that creates borders is realized, we will continue along the path of wasting time, money, and humanity on useless border tactics.
The Tortilla Curtain and The Devil's Highway 