Collateral Damage on the U.S.-Mexico Border – great article on border fences and their impact

January 27, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
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Scott Nicol   Border Wars   Sierra Club Borderlands Committee    January 24, 2013

A comprehensive immigration reform bill will soon be introduced in Congress. This could be a positive development by normalizing the status of millions who are now forced to live in the shadows, reducing the number of immigrants who cross—and sometimes die—in the desert, and allowing some of the $18 billion that is spent annually on immigration enforcement to be used for other purposes. All of that, of course, assumes greater political courage and willingness to institute meaningful change than Congress has recently demonstrated. If history is any guide, it could instead mean a ramping up of enforcement and billions more spent on border walls, roads, and boots on the ground.

Politicians trying to explain away all of America’s ills have repeatedly turned their attention towards the southern border. The ebb and flow of migrants across the border, which has been occurring since the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Gadsden Purchase established it at its present location, has been recast as an invasion. Read more

Probe of Border Agency Opens Amidst Wave of Deadly Shootings

October 18, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
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The U.S. Office of the Inspector General will be conducting an investigation that will look into cases of brutality or use of excessive force by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents. The OIG’s announcement comes at a time of increasingly deadly and disproportionate use-of-force, a problem that is exacerbated by a leadership vacuum at the top of CBP. Read more

Connecting Indigenous Autonomy and Immigration

April 13, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
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Regardless of the direction and presumed legitimacy of U.S. immigration law, there are much deeper traditions that Native American and MesoAmerican peoples have practiced and are starting to embrace once again as they negotiate their experience of trans-border citizenship, regardless of the state of exception that seeks to suspend the rule of law and declare the undocumented flow of Natives as the moral equivalent of terrorists and drug runners.  Read more

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