Hundreds of people gathered on both sides
of the border wall that separates Nogales, Sonora from Nogales, Arizona on
October 8 and 9. The convergence was organized by SOA Watch to
protest the militarization of the border that is causing so much suffering and
death for our migrant sisters and brothers.
This militarization was started by Bill
Clinton and has been further escalated by Barack Obama. A “crisis” of unaccompanied minors that were
fleeing violence and poverty in Central America and seeking refuge in the U.S.
occurred during summer 2014. The response
of the Obama administration was to pressure the Mexican government to further
militarize its southern border with Guatemala.
Millions of dollars were given to implement Plan Frontera Sur (Southern
Border Plan) which placed more immigration agents and checkpoints in southern
Mexico.
Sister Guadalupe; of the Hermanos en el
Camino shelter in Ixtepec, Oaxaca; told us that the militarization in southern
Mexico has forced migrants to pass through more isolated, and dangerous,
regions. She said that nine of every ten
migrants arriving at the shelter have been assaulted, and more than half the
women have been raped. Mexico is now
deporting more Central Americans than the U.S., and this repression and
violence have reduced the number of people arriving at the U.S. border.
“I very much appreciate Mexico’s efforts
in addressing the unaccompanied children who we saw spiking during the summer,”
said Obama in January 2015. “In part,
because of strong efforts by Mexico, including at its southern border, we’ve
seen those numbers reduced back to much more manageable levels.”
The Nogales Wall was first built by the
Clinton administration in October 1994 – just three months after he visited the
site of the former Berlin Wall. The
Obama administration built a taller, and stronger, border wall in the summer of
2011.
“We celebrate unity,” Clinton had said in
Berlin. “We stand where crude walls of
concrete separated mother from child, and we meet as one family. We stand where those who sought a new life
instead found death. Berliners, you have
proved that no wall can forever contain the mighty power of freedom.”
The Clinton administration created the Border
Patrol’s first national strategy in 1994, “Prevention through Deterrence.” The goal was to “Raise the risk…to the point
that many will consider it futile to attempt illegal entry… Illegal traffic
will be deterred, or forced over more hostile terrain, less suited for
crossing.” Since then, the bodies of
more than 6,000 people have been found in the southern border region. The actual death toll is much higher because
many bodies are never found.
Last month, we commemorated the 15th
anniversary of the attacks of September 11 and I found myself reflecting on how
we define terrorism. It seems to me that
terrorism involves the use of violence, targeting civilians, to achieve a
political objective. Thousands of
civilians have now died after being forced over hostile terrain along the
border in order to deter people from entering the U.S.
“No más, no more, tear down the border
walls!” we chanted during the litany for those victims at the end of the
convergence here in Nogales. |
| A deported mother and veterans, followed by Veterans for Peace, leading the march along the wall in Nogales,Sonora |
