The threats to human lives on the U.S./Mexico border have increased in the recent years. It is the great indifference of the two nations, the U.S. in particular, which bred these conditions. The governments on both sides feel it is up to the other to prevent these deaths, when both are to blame.
When nineteen men, women, and children were found dead in a trailer in Victoria, Texas in early May 2003 the U.S. government\'s response was to go after the human smugglers. This action was only a smokescreen in an attempt to avert attention from the truth: these immigrants were dead as a result of U.S. immigration policy. Most people in the immigrant community were not fooled. A week after the deaths, a caravan of more than 50 traveled to Victoria to pay respects to the dead. In front of local reporters, the group denounced the trickery of the government and its genocidal immigration laws.
Also in May, a group of families sued the U.S. government for policies that led to the death of their family members on the Mexico Arizona border. According to Robin Hoover, President of Tucson-based Humane Borders, \"It\'s a deliberate, conscious decision to force the migration into the desert.\" Instead of providing safety and security for immigrants, the U.S. government is trying to eliminate a public relations “problem.�?
The movement of people across the border is something that has been going on for over a hundred years. The prospect of making life more hospitable back home in Mexico is the driving force in the migrations. In Mexico compliance with NAFTA means near slave conditions for its working class people.
These “free trade�? policies no doubt compel another section of people that perhaps never considered coming to the U.S. to risk life and limb. That was the case with a cousin of mine from Mexico. His trip began with a smuggler sending 12 people across the Rio Grande River. Once in Houston of the original 12, only 7 made it alive. Just like that, 5 lives were lost looking for a better life.
We must take a stand and fight for the rights of everyone living here and elsewhere for that matter. The attack on immigrants not only affects the immigrant community, it affects us all. The war against immigrants by the Bureau of immigration and Citizenship Services (BCIS), formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), has far ranging implications: weakened civil liberties and workers rights. Support of our undocumented brothers and sisters today, will ensure a strong and united workers movement tomorrow.
For more information in border issues:
National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights
http://www.nnirr.org
Humane Borders
http://www.humaneborders.org
Jose Rodriguez is an activist in Houston, Texas and a member of the YCL
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Dynamic Magazine
