The Eyes of a Perro

This past year has turned my perspective of the world upside down in many ways.

I have learned that some of the most divine things are the “ordinary,” everyday things: walking through the park, seeing the complexity of humanity in the random strangers all around me, saying hi to the lady selling the gelatina on may way to work, reveling in the group of people holding hands as we pray before la comida at the shelter, feeling grateful for the hard work that mi mamá puts into making breakfast each day.

I have discovered that mission work – at least the kind that I have taken part in – does not take place in a church, in a Bible Study, or passing out pamphlets. Many of my holiest moments this year have come over a beer with co-workers[1] or tequila shots with my host family. The only conversion that I have made this year has been winning my host mamá over to locally grown and roasted coffee beans brewed in a French Press (rather than Folger’s made in a coffee pot). I have certainly received much more ministering from family, friends and co-workers than I have given.

I have realized that spiritual language – or Christian jargon – is not so Christian when it excludes and isolates others.

I have witnessed accompaniment more in friends who are self-proclaimed atheists, academics and socialists than I ever witnessed in the church.

I have seen that working as a guía for migrants or carrying a backpack of drugs for the narcos is sometimes the most feasible way to sacar adelante, to support one’s family and improve one’s life.

I have realized that local police aren’t working to defend the public when they have target practice on migrants riding atop trains; when they search and interrogate individuals on the sole basis that they are darker-skinned.

My view of the world is more muddied now. People and things do not fit in the categorical boxes in which I used to put them. The world is too complex.

“I accused the Border Patrol agents and the agency’s over-all culture of creating an over simplified and overly harsh duality out of the complex reality of migration. Walking out of the Border Patrol station, I realized that I was equally as guilty. I walked into the station so ready to see my anger and frustration personified. I had been vilifying Border Patrol since I’d begun to learn about this issue. I had built a very clear and simple duality. Migrant=good. Border Patrol=bad. I wanted to hate her and all she stood for, but I couldn’t. She was kind, patient, human.

Part of me, wishes it could be that simple. Part of me wishes there were one singular policy or organization against which I could unleash all my energy and frustration. However, migration is interwoven into so many different aspects of policy, business and culture. The issue itself calls us out of our limited and dualistic way of analyzing issues…

Our visit to the Douglas, AZ Border Patrol station showed me one more facet of the incredibly complex issue of human migration along our Southern border. It reminded me of the critical importance of bringing humanity to what can so easily become a theoretical political or economic conversation. It reminded me that humanity should extend along both sides of the border.” –Alyssa Kaplan, my friend and fellow Mexico YAGM

I continue to default to categorizing and stereotyping. It is, after all, a tool to help our brains understand the complexity of the world around us. But, it’s not something I will live with contently. As a result of the experiences I have had, it saddens me to see us categorizing one another, labeling the other, perpetuating stereotypes, and creating division.

***

During our visit to the border, we had lunch, coffee and discussion with Douglas, Arizona’s mayor Danny Ortega one day. Mayor Ortega recalled the days when all that separated Douglas from its’ sister city Agua Prieta was a three-strand barb-wired fence. In those days, he and his friends would hop over the fence to go play baseball in Mexico. And, their Mexican compadres would come visit Douglas to play soccer. Annual bi-national horse races were held, pitting a Mexican horse against a U.S. American horse. Folks gathered on both sides of the border, bringing their tamales, hot dogs, and cerveza. It was a time of community, and celebration.

Lunch & Discussion with Mayor Danny Ortega, Cristobal Lohr Castelo
of the Mexican Consulate, and café owner Robert Uribé.
Check out Galiano's Café & Smoothies if you are ever in Douglas, AZ.
Photo Cred: Frontera de Cristo 

The government never asked the residents of Douglas – and certainly not the residents of Agua Prieta – before constructing the wall. They just built it. The wall divided families, hurt the economy of Douglas, and separated the bi-national community.[2]

The border wall created dichotomy. One side was labeled as good, the other bad. One innocent, the other criminal. Fear was struck in our hearts, dividing us from one another. (Todd Miller as quoted in Martin, 2016).[3]

***

We complicate life so much sometimes.

We debate the wall. We debate immigration.

Will letting immigrants in hurt us economically?

What are the social and political effects of accepting immigrants into our nation?

Sometimes we make a mess of things, and just need to remind ourselves to view the world with the eyes of a niño.

South side of the border, looking north.
Photo Cred: Gracia Johnson

What makes her different from me? Why can I visit her in her country, but she can’t come to visit me in mine? Why is there a wall to keep us from playing ball together?

As I stood a few feet south of the border wall contemplating these things, the little dog accompanying us crossed between the posts in the wall (about six inches wide) into the U.S. We whistled and laughed. The dog had no idea that what he was doing was “illegal.” He had no idea that this line in the sand separated one nation from another. Wiggling his tail, he strolled down the Border Patrol’s dirt road, sniffed around a bit, then came right back.

 El Cachorrito (perro)
Photo Cred: Gracia

My heart was warmed. I thought to myself, why can’t we see the world with the eyes of a perro?

***

Gracias a Dios, there are people working to muddy the dichotomy, unite the nations, cross borders, and build community. Mayor Ortega shared that many who work and go to school in Douglas live on the Agua Prieta side. City officials in Douglas are given healthcare in Agua Prieta. Bi-national artwalks and concerts are hosted along the border wall. Douglas provides fire-trucks to Agua Prieta. The two cities are organizing a teacher exchange program. It’s just a start, but it’s something. There is hope.

---

[1] My co-volunteer and American friend John (who has his MSW and is currently a Fulbright scholar researching Central American migrants in Mexico as a part of his doctoral research in Anthropology) told me that he most feels like a social worker when he talks over a beer with our co-workers in the shelter. It is in these moments that they are finally able to express their true feelings about our work in the shelter and air out frustrations. It is in these moments that we hear one another’s lives, hold one another’s complaints and struggles, and encourage one another to persevere in this work – work that John calls today’s equivalent of the Underground Railroad.

[2] Douglies relies economically on the consumption of citizens of Agua Prieta, Mexico. While about 20,000 live in Douglas, around 100,000 people live in Agua Prieta. These Mexican citizens are hungry to have access to things not available on their side of the border, and things like milk, gasoline, phones and computers that are substantially cheaper in the U.S. Today 65% of Douglas’ city budget comes from sales taxes. Of these taxes, 75-85% are paid by Mexican nationals. The numbers were even higher before, but now stricter border regulations prevent Mexicans without some sort of visa from crossing the port of entry.

[3] Martin, A. (2016, February 11). The Empire's War on the Border - Full Documentary //

Empire_File018/19 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e94K30251MI

Bullies, Economics & The Border

 “… as long as there have been desperate people who can’t make a living wage in their home country and a need for cheap labor in the United States, migrants have been willing to cross the border regardless of the cost. 
The factors that make people leave their homes and families to risk life and limb in the desert for the chance to scrub toilets for minimum wage are relatively obvious: global economic inequality, political instability, war, famine, government corruption, drug cartel violence, unregulated capitalism, consumer demands for cheap goods and services. It is an endless list of political economic issues that defy simple policy solutions. Would a new guest worker program solve America’s border problems? Could policing the workforce and penalizing those who employ the undocumented stop the migration flow? What about equalizing the trade relationships between the United States and our neighbors to the south so that people have fewer reasons to leave home? Perhaps more foreign investment in economic development in Latin America and less spending on the Border War? All of these suggestions have been put forth time and again with few results.
In the end, it comes down to the United States’ need for cheap labor that can easily be controlled with the threat of deportation and duplicitous stance that we don’t want undocumented laborers in our country. The American public has to first recognize and resolve this fundamental socioeconomic conundrum before any serious immigration policy reform can take place…” -Jason De León (2015,  p.283-284)

I thought it was just kids that bullied one another. It always seemed to me that the “cool kids” – the ones that were popular, that had influence – made fun of others. I remember friends like Brendan and Jacob being called “gay” and picked on by the cool kids. They weren’t/aren’t actually gay, they were just socially different than the cool kids. Meanwhile, the kids that were gay received all kinds of homophobic comments – maybe not to their face, but certainly behind their backs. Kids were mean. Unfortunately, I have begun to realize that the bullying didn’t end in grade school. Adults are just as bad if not worse.

U.S. side of border. Douglas, AZ

For whatever reason, our politicians, the media, and the U.S. population in general has decided to blame many of our national problems on undocumented immigrants. The bullies, like their grade school peers are insecure – politicians trying to explain perceived economic issues of our nation (to divert the heat they feel from their constituents); media looking for “hot stories” to grip the attention of the masses, bringing in money for their company and keeping themselves employed; the U.S. population looing for make sense of why the “American Dream” doesn’t look as they imagined. Meanwhile, the victims – like most of bullying – can’t, or won’t, defend themselves. Why would they even try if doing so would ensure deportation and limit their ability to provide for their families?

The politicians, media and fellow U.S. citizens are not completely wrong in saying that undocumented immigrants cost tax-payers money. They do. Undocumented immigrants use services paid by U.S. tax-payers: roads, parks, public schools, etc. Additionally, hospitals in the American Southwest have tens of millions worth in medical bills unpaid by undocumented immigrants who were treated in their facilities (Urrea, 2004, p. 179-180). However, undocumented immigrants also provide benefits to our economy that are immeasurable. Undocumented immigrants pay sales taxes, state taxes, FICA and Social Security. They pay banks and financial institutions fees when sending remittances home to Latin America. Their cheap labor keeps the cost of food and goods low. They are said to add $300 billion to the U.S.’s GDP (Urrea, 2004, 215-219).

At the end of the day, it is impossible to say how much immigrants cost us or benefit us economically. Regardless, I would argue that the amount they might cost tax-payers is relatively small. I believe that paying the tab for the medical care and public services received by undocumented immigrants is a small price to pay in order to provide refuge for those fleeing their nations; to accept hard workers and entrepreneurs into our nation; to enjoy the social and religious perspective of different people; to care for the foreigner and migrant (as many of our faiths command us to); and to maintain the promise that our nation will be a refuge, providing liberty and justice for all.

Reference List:

De León, J. (2015). The land of open graves: living and dying on the migrant trail. Oakland,

            CA: University of California Press.

Urrea, L. A. (2004). The devil’s highway: A true story. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Plan Frontera Sur

How wide is the U.S.-Mexico border? One’s first thought might be to measure the width of the fence… roughly 6-inches. But further examine reveals that the border is wider than one would imagine.

The agent walked down the aisle eying everyone on the bus. He was young and attractive. Dressed sharply with a tan vest over a white short-sleeve collared shirt and hip sunglasses. He asked a couple of people for their IDs – people whose skin was darker, whose appearance looked more like that of stereotypical Central Americans. He was nice enough. He asked friendly for the IDs and didn’t come off as intimidating. The two individuals handed over their Mexican IDs. He glanced them over then handed them back with “gracias” and a warm smile. He then scanned the rest of the bus. Though we were obviously foreign, he never asked my parents or I for identification. The agent proceeded to turn around and exit the bus. We passed through the National Immigration Institute’s checkpoint north of Oaxaca City and continued our seven-hour ride to Mexico City.

It was a routine INM (National Migration Institution) checkpoint. Albeit, one that was occurring over 400 miles (over 700km) from Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala. In the United States, the agency that conducts similar inspections, the U.S. Border Patrol, is only given jurisdiction within 100 miles of the border. Why was it that this checkpoint was set up so far from the border?

For one, INM’s jurisdiction covers all of Mexico, it is not limited like that of the U.S. Border Patrol. (INM’s responsibilities cover more than what Border Patrol does. They also function in the way that ICE does in the U.S.)

What may be more telling, though, is the fact that Mexico is not seeking to stop immigrants just for their own purposes. Mexico is also seeking to stop these migrants because of U.S. diplomatic pressure, economic incentives, and other clandestine dealings. The United States played a large part in pressuring Mexico to begin its Plan Frontera Sur (Southern Border Plan) after receiving a record-number of child and family Central American migrants and refugees at the U.S. border in the spring and summer of 2014. The plan effectively shifted responsibility to stop Central Americans from the U.S. Border Patrol to Mexico’s National Migration Institute. As a result, it also made the U.S.-Mexico border as wide as the length of all of Mexico.

Though the agent that screened our bus was Mexican and worked for INM, he might as well have been a U.S. border patrol agent. He was doing the work of enforcing United States border policy. Albeit, his covert U.S. border enforcement was taking place over 700 miles south of the U.S. border. Nevertheless, his screening tactics – profiling the people with the darkest skin and most Central American look – were no different than the U.S. Border Patrol’s tactics at checkpoints and Arizona law enforcement’s profiling of latinos following the legislation of SB 1070.

***

Here are some graphs that reveal a bit about Plan Frontera Sur:

How is the U.S. supporting Mexico’s Plan Frontera Sur?

“Public documents show that the US State Department initially provided $86m to train the security forces and modernise inspection and communication equipment” (Lakhani, 2016).

The U.S. has also provided Mexico with watch towers, biometric data equipment and other resources to find and track migrants. Various migrants passing through the shelter in Apizaco have also recounted stories of seeing U.S. American Border Patrol agents working alongside – and presumably training – Mexican immigration forces.

These are just a few of the ways that the U.S. is supporting Mexico’s initiative to stop Central American migrants. It is believed that the U.S. is diverting money from the $2.5 billion Mérida Plan – which fights drug trafficking in Mexico – to Mexico’s INM to stop migrants. However, the U.S. refused to diverge info after a Freedom of Information request was filed in September in 2015. The U.S. government’s refusal to be transparent has prompted a coalition of human rights groups to sue the government (Lakhani, 2016).

Why is Plan Frontera Sur bad?

The crackdown by immigration agents along well-traveled train routes, such as the infamous “bestia” – the train route through Mexico – has forced migrants to take more rural routes, often on foot. This has exposed migrants to new predators and other vulnerabilities, and isolated them from the network of migrant shelters that run along the train tracks in Mexico. Isolation from the shelters means isolation from a free housing, food, medical care, and the people who are working to document and denounce human rights abuses.

When asking one migrant in the shelter in April, “¿Como ha sido su viaje por México? How has your journey been through Mexico?” he responded, “Todo ha salido bien. La migra solo me ha golpeado tres veces. Everything has been good. Immigration has only beaten me up three times.”

Since Plan Frontera Sur was passed, there has been an upsurge in reported human rights abuses committed against migrants. Abuses committed by immigration agents, train guards, municipal police, federal police, local citizens. On an almost daily basis, I hear of migrants being assaulted and robbed by train guards – sometimes in conjunction with municipal police – in Orizaba, Veracruz. Many abuses have also been committed by immigration agents during raids, which have become more frequent and dangerous as a result of Plan Frontera Sur. One such human rights abuse that we witnessed in Apizaco, Tlaxcala on April 12 was documented by my friend John Doering-White:

Yesterday morning I watched five migrants leave the migrant shelter in Apizaco, Tlaxcala. Moments later, only four returned. When they sprinted back to the entrance of the shelter, urgently shouting for me to open the door, the four that returned explained that the migration agents had beaten the fifth individual, throwing him to the ground by his hair then kicking him repeatedly in the head before throwing him head-first into their vehicle. This occurred less than 100 meters from the entrance of the migrant shelter. This also occurred mere minutes after I myself was stopped by migration agents in the center of town nearby. I learned this morning that the agents continued to beat the fifth migrant inside their vehicle until he lost consciousness. Acccording to Adrían, they then drove to a rural and isolated area to dump his body, leaving him for dead. Luckily, Adrián was able to regain consciousness and make his way back to the shelter, where he is currently being cared for. Ostensibly, Adrián can apply for a humanitarian visa, made eligible to undocumented migrants who are victims of a crime while in Mexico (similar to a U-Visa in the US). This would allow him to travel more freely through the country. Ironically, the very agency whose agents violently abused Adrián are responsible for approving such a visa. Formal complaints and reports are being submitted to the local police and the relevant human rights commissions. Regardless, this is ridiculous.

Adrían's blood-soaked t-shirt.
Photographed after he found his way back to shelter.

 (Update: Adrian stayed in the shelter the day after the incident, spending most of hist time making a denouncement against INM. Rather than opting to apply for a humanitarian visa and endure the long 3-month-or-so waiting process, Adrian continued his journey northward.)

Mexico has failed to properly assess apprehended migrants’ need for asylum. It is believed that many migrants apprehended would qualify for asylum in Mexico because of persecution they flee in their home countries. However, because the migrants often do not ask to be processed for asylum and are not assessed for this need, they are deported back to life-threatening situations. A recent NPR interview reports an even starker image of Mexico’s failure to aid Central Americans fleeing danger.

KAHN: Apart from the abuse, advocates for the migrants say many would-be refugees with credible asylum claims are getting swept up. On a recent tour of detention facilities along Mexico's southern border, Eric Olson with the Wilson Center in Washington says he saw evidence of that. He reviewed dozens of forms to be filled out by migrants with questions regarding fear and requesting protection. They'd already been checked no.

ERIC OLSON: And it wasn't just that somebody had gone through with the pen and marked off no, no, no, no, but it - they were literally printed with a check in the box. (Kahn, 2015)

The Southern Border Plan focuses on enforcement. It’s just another example of the U.S. – and Mexico – fighting migration as if it were a war. If we want to slow migration, we should work on resolving its causes rather than continuing to try to block migrants, which accomplishes no long-term solution. The only thing these band-aid responses have achieved is a feeling of satisfaction among U.S. law-makers, which is kept them from looking into the root causes of migration.

***

In all fairness, the U.S. has taken a few recent steps that could end up being positive actions to aid Central America, target the root causes of migration and improve our broken immigration system. In December of 2014, the U.S. began a new program to process asylum pleas for Central American fleeing violence while they are still in their home countries, so that they do not have to make the perilous journey through Mexico before making their plea. While the program was born out of great intentions – helping Central American youth avoid the dangers of smugglers, gangs, narcos and corrupt officials along the migrant trail – the program has been anything but successful. A slow-moving bureaucratic process had resulted in not a single minor being accepted for asylum by the time of a November 2015 NY Times article on the program (Shear). This delay also puts these child’s lives in danger. If one is fleeing violence, how can she afford to stay in her country while waiting months for a response? Maureen Meyer of Washington Office on Latin America shared that the U.S. is looking into involving a third country as a host for refugee applicants during the bureaucratic process. However, no resolution has been made to implement this at present.

In December of 2015, U.S. Congress approved a $750 million aid package for Central America. Two-thirds of the funds are ear-marked for development and economic assistance in the Northern Triangle of Central America – Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – the area that is plagued by the most violence and from which come the majority of immigrants and refugees that head to Mexico and the U.S. The money has a number of stipulations and conditions. The Central American governments must prosecute corrupt officials, make efforts to combat human smuggling, and make efforts to persuade citizens of the dangers of making the journey to the U.S. It’s too early to tell what effects this aid-package will have.

“But for all the effort, the Mexican campaign has not deterred the flow of migrants north. Instead, what was already a treacherous journey has become even more dangerous.” –Azam Ahmed

While the present situation looks bleak, the future is still being written. As we move toward this future, we would be wise to head the words of Sonia Nazario:

While a legitimate debate can continue about the pluses and minuses of economic migrants to the United States, the solution with these refugees from our neighbors to the south is clear. It seems ridiculous to have to say it: If a child is fleeing danger in his or her home country, and that child knocks on our door pleading for help, we should open the door. Instead of funding only the current policies toward migrants in Mexico, we should fund fair efforts by Mexico to evaluate which Central Americans are refugees.

While migrants’ claims are evaluated, we should help Mexico pay for places for migrants to be held that are humane.

The United States should develop a system for these refugees, much like Europe is now doing for Syrians, to equitably allocate people who are fleeing harm throughout this continent — including sending them to safer countries in Latin America, to Canada and to the United States. In the 1980s, many United States churches stepped up to help Central Americans fleeing civil war violence, and many would gladly sponsor a migrant today if encouraged by our government.

Will the United States step up and be a moral leader for these refugees? (Nazario, 2015)

Reference List:

Ahmed, A. (2016, February 8). Step by step on a desperate trek by migrants through

Mexico. International New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/world/americas/mexico-migrants-central-america.html?smid=fb-share%3Fregister%3Dfacebook&_r=3

Isacson, A., Meyer, M., & Smith, H. (2015, November). Increased enforcement at Mexico’s

southern border: an update on security, migration, and U.S. assistance. Retrieved from: http://www.wola.org/files/WOLA_Increased_Enforcement_at_Mexico's_Southern_Border_Nov2015.pdf

Kahn, C. (Interviewer) & Olson, E. (Interviewee). (2015). Mexico deporting migrating

minors in record numbers. [Interview transcript]. Retrieved from National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/2015/11/27/457617388/mexico-deporting-migrating-minors-in-record-numbers

Knippen, J., Boggs, C., & Meyer, M. (2015 November). An uncertain path: justice for crimes

and human rights violations against migrants and refugees in Mexico. Retrieved from: http://www.wola.org/sites/default/files/An%20Uncertain%20Path_Nov2015.pdf

Lakhani, N. (2016, February 16). Human rights groups sue US over immigration payments

to Mexico. The Guardian. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/12/human-rights-group-sue-immigration-mexico

Nazario, S.  (2015, October 10). The refugees at our door. International New York Times.

Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/opinion/sunday/the-refugees-at-our-door.html?_r=2

Shear, M.D. (2015, November 5). Red tape slows U.S. help for children fleeing Central

America. International New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/06/us/politics/red-tape-slows-us-help-for-children-fleeing-central-america.html?action=click&contentCollection=Americas&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

Turati, M. (2016, March 8). Women marked by the plan frontera sur. En El Camino.

Retrieved from: http://sites.sandiego.edu/tbi-foe/2016/03/08/women-marked-by-the-plan-frontera-sur-by-marcela-turati-en-el-camino/