© 2024 KRWG
News that Matters.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Trump's Policies And Border Patrol Enforcement: Time For A Reality Check

KRWG News

Commentary: "From what I’ve heard, it sounds like the most effective method is bullets." This quote from the Sun News article from March 10th reporting on the anti-immigrant event held in Deming earlier this month keeps ruminating in my head. This is where the immigration debate starts for some, inciting violence against some of the most vulnerable and defenseless individuals. For those of us who are immigrant rights advocates, who are driven to this work from personal experience, this sentiment is too unsettling. How do we possibly compromise with someone who refuses to see our humanity?

I was 8 years old when my family and I came to this country from Mexico. Last Christmas I woke up to the story of Felipe, the 8-year-old migrant boy from Guatemala, who died in Border Patrol custody. The parallel in our stories also left me deeply unsettled. This was only 1 of 4 deaths in the last several months under Customs and Border Protection’s watch. Since then, I have seen little change in the way we speak about the Border Patrol and its umbrella CBP. CBP is our nation’s largest and deadliest law enforcement agency and Congress has continued to steadily increase their budget year by year. The reality is that the border patrol has a troubled record of excessive force, racial profiling, sexual assault and misconduct, and agents are rarely disciplined. According to the Government Accountability Office, between 2005 and 2012, when Border Patrol expanded significantly, there were 2,170 reported incidents of CBP employees arrested for misconduct. In fact, every time the Border Patrol has had a surge in hiring, an increase in corruption claims has followed. Since 2001 this agency has had full authority to roam in and around our communities, with no oversight, shooting first, and asking questions later.

This agency cannot be trusted, and their culture of impunity is rooted in the same dangerous sentiment as above. The last four deaths in Border Patrol custody have made something very clear to me: the problem with the Border Patrol is not that the agency has a lack of resources, rather, the problem is that the Border Patrol has a complete lack of regard for brown lives and brown bodies. What the agency needs is not more money for agents or surveillance technology but a thorough overhaul of its operation, and a complete cultural shift that is focused on humanitarian efforts and upholding the safety of all border residents and those who come here seeking our help.  Not an agency conditioned to see brown bodies as the enemy. This will require time, community involvement and political will, especially from members of congress who represent border communities.

The current situation at our borders has only been exacerbated by President Trump’s focus on harsher immigration policies. CBP’s $18 billion budget must be shifted towards efforts that can humanly process asylum seekers, for social workers, EMT’s, attorneys, and community shelters who can provide services and alternatives to detention for migrant families. Our community leaders already hold the answers, this is where the focus must be.

Instead, immigrant communities are yet again being asked to compromise with those who would rather see us shot dead in the desert or see our children in cages. Every time I hear the word “compromise,” I ask myself, “what else could we possibly be asked to give up?” “What more can be taken from us? We have lost our mothers, our fathers, our brothers and sisters, and our very own lives. If compromise is played out; it is those anti-immigrant voices who will be content for now, and our immigrant community, again, will be left heartbroken, with a false choice in front of us.