[Nasional-e] Hypocrisy on the U.S.-Mexican border

[Ambon]

 Hypocrisy on the U.S.-Mexican border

  Andres Martinez The New York Times Tuesday, October 15, 2002

Meanwhile

TUCSON, Arizona It's a 40-mile walk across some of the world's most
oppressive desert landscape from the Mexican border to the patch of desert
near the highway where the Border Patrol chopper hovered above the exhausted
group of young men. The 21 Mexicans pursuing the American dream - the
$5-an-hour version - had almost made it. As he booked the young men, David
BeMiller, a Border Patrol agent, made them an enticing offer: "Would you
like to return to Mexico as soon as possible without any punishment?" Most
migrants accept the offer, opting for an immediate administrative
deportation once their fingerprints are run through a database to determine
how many times they have tried crossing. The U.S. attorney's office in
Tucson doesn't automatically prosecute migrants unless they have tried
entering 15 times. Call it the "15 strikes and you're out" policy.
.
An hour's drive away in Tucson, BeMiller's wife, Michele, teaches English as
a second language, often to the children of the unauthorized migrants who
elude her husband. There are sound public policy reasons for not checking
papers at the schoolhouse door, but the juxtaposition of the BeMillers'
careers says a lot about America's ambivalence toward immigration,
particularly toward the relentless stream of Mexicans who illegally cross
the 1,950-mile-long (3,100 kilometer) border.
.
That ambivalence has never been more pronounced than in recent years, a time
when the economic contribution of undocumented workers has been increasingly
acknow- ledged and border security has been steadily tightened. The United
States cannot seem to decide whether to post "Do Not Trespass" or "Help
Wanted" signs along its southern border. The government criminalizes entry
without a permit, directs the Border Patrol to seal the frontier, then
eagerly hires the migrants who are successful in running the gauntlet.
.
There are now an estimated 8 million illegal immigrants in the United
States. Entire industries, like agriculture, would suffer if these
immigrants were rounded up and deported overnight.
.
President George W. Bush took office with ambitious hopes of addressing
these contradictions. He entered into negotiations with Mexico's president,
Vicente Fox, but when other issues seized Bush's attention after the Sept.
11 attacks, Washington seemed to lose interest. It is time for the two
nations to resume negotiations in earnest.
.
While the talks with Mexico have stagnated, the Border Patrol has become
more aggressive about carrying out its thankless mission. Having grown from
some 4,000 agents in 1994 to almost 10,000 today, the patrol has regained
control of the border in and around urban areas. This has redirected illegal
immigration into more remote areas. The group being rounded up as I rode
along with Agent BeMiller was wise to attempt the desert crossing in
October, when temperatures retreat back to the double digits. During the
summer, ground temperatures can often reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60
centigrade) in this desolate expanse the patrol calls the West Desert
Corridor.
.
The corridor is the epicenter of a humanitarian disaster along the
southwestern border. Last year most of the 134 deaths in the Border Patrol's
Tucson sector, one of eight sectors along the Mexican border, occurred here.
There have been some 2,000 deaths along the border since vigilance was
stepped up in 1994.
.
Advocates for the immigrants often blame the Border Patrol's strategy for
the deaths in the desert, but that seems a narrow diagnosis. It isn't the
patrol's fault that there are ample rewards awaiting those who make it
through their increasingly challenging obstacle course.
.
BeMiller is not one to be fazed by the futility of trying to seal the
border. There are millions who have succeeded in eluding the Border Patrol,
but 826 migrants were arrested in the Tucson sector alone on the day I spent
with him.
.
"It's the thrill of the hunt, without the kill," he said. Most agents felt
reinvigorated after Sept. 11, he added. "It was a powerful reminder of why
we need to make sure we know who is in this country, and for what purpose."
.
As one of the detained Mexicans awaited the transport bus that would take
him to the detention center and then back to Mexico, he also alluded to
Sept. 11. Referring to the potential for a greatly expanded temporary visa
program, he said, "Everything was looking up until those planes slammed into
the twin towers."