I saw heavy
machinery up ahead as I parked on the ridge road a few miles north of the border
with Mexico. When I got out of the car,
I could see a tower in the east and another one in the north. None of that had been there the last time I
was on that ridge just three months ago and I was curious to get a closer look
when I returned from the hike.
The machinery was
at a construction site on top of a hill with an extensive view. “Do not enter. This site is under video surveillance,” read
the signs, in English and Spanish, along the perimeter of the site.
The northern tower
was surrounded by a fence and had the same bilingual warning. Two cameras were mounted on top of the tower,
a microwave dish extended from the side, and a large solar panel was at the
base – an imposing image set against the desert sky.
While I was taking
that photo, Todd Miller and Gabriel Schivone were posting an excellent article
entitled Gaza
in Arizona I
saw the article the next day and I was startled to read, “Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) contracted with Israel’s giant military manufacturer Elbit
Systems to build a ‘virtual wall,’ a technological barrier set back from the
actual international divide in the Arizona desert...CBP has tasked Elbit with
creating a ‘wall’ of ‘integrated fixed towers’ containing the latest in
cameras, radar, motion sensors, and control rooms. Construction will start in the rugged, desert
canyons around Nogales.”
I sent a message
to Todd with the photo and asked, “Could this be part of the ‘wall’ of
‘integrated fixed towers’ that Elbit is building for CBP?” He responded a few minutes later, “Very
interesting! I’m going to check it
out.” He and Gabe drove to Nogales the
next morning and we went out together to see the tower.
We were greeted by
an armed security guard and one of the construction workers who told us, “You
can’t go any further because there’s moving pieces and equipment.” Todd mentioned that we had seen the tower
from the road and we were wondering what it would be used for.
The foreman came
over to check us out and the worker asked him, “Should we put them in contact
with Elbit?” “You have to talk with the
public information office of Customs and Border Protection,” quickly
interjected the foreman. “Are you
working for CBP?” asked Todd. “You have
to talk with the public information office of Customs and Border
Protection. That’s all I can tell you,”
was the response.
In “Gaza in
Arizona,” Todd and Gabe describe how the University of Arizona is recruiting
Israeli security companies to set up operations at the Tech Parks Arizona
campus in Tucson. The program is called
the Israel Business Initiative. The
Department of Homeland Security designated the University of Arizona as the
lead school for the Center of Excellence on Border Security and Immigration in
2008 and the university has received millions of dollars in federal grants.
President Obama
strongly supports “free trade” policies that enable corporations, like Elbit,
to easily travel around the globe in search of increased profit but he opposes
providing that same freedom of movement for workers. The minimum wage in Nogales, Sonora is now
$5.20 per day while the minimum wage in Nogales, Arizona is $8.05 per
hour. Elbit’s virtual wall will help
ensure that the women and men who assemble products for U.S. companies in
Nogales, Sonora stay on the lower-wage side of the border.
Todd and Gabe
quote Roei Elkabetz, brigadier general of the Israel Defense Forces, at the
beginning of their article. “We have
learned lots from Gaza,” he said. “It’s
been a great laboratory.” That
laboratory is now being extended to Arizona.
