All eyes are on Mexico with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arriving there. Yesterday, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano revealed a border security plan that was allegedly less about undocumented immigrants and more about protecting the “us” from the violence coming from “them”. And next month U.S. President Obama will meet with Mexican President Calderon to discuss “their” problem.
I think that it’s important to note that the Obama administration is sending a clear signal that it is going to follow the safety first rhetoric that the Bush administration nearly perfected, that is the rhetoric that before we talk human rights, especially those of immigrants, we need to make sure we are protected from them.
Who are they?
They are the drug cartels and human traffickers. Now don’t get me wrong the violence is horrible but violence in Mexico isn’t anything new. Look specifically at the massive killing of women in Juarez. Pero the U.S. gets down to business when college students worry about their spring break vacation plans being ruined.
350 additional security personnel will be sent to the border including agents from the Department of Homeland Security, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Border Enforcement Security Task Forces (BEST) teams will be doubled and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is to create a special south-west intelligence group to co-ordinate all its efforts to tackle Mexican drug-related crime.
ATF is to send 100 agents to the border within 45 days to crack down on illegal gun transfers from the US into Mexico.
They are the undocumented coming into the U.S. protected by plants that conspire to hide them. So part of the plan includes spraying potentially harmful chemicals to kill the plants that help to hide “them”.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be so cynical and hold out hope for the new administration. Napolitano did mention how U.S. drug consumption is helping to fuel the cartel violence. Hmm but no mention of how the current drug policy is the U.S. including mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines have increased the prison population. Napolitano did mention how walls aren’t an especially helpful security plan but that parts of the border wall under construction will be finished and other parts reinforced with technology.
Feel safer yet? I know in my neighborhood, on this side of the border and in neighborhoods across the country, families are growing restless with their growing insecurity. ICE is still conducting raids. Families are still be separated. When will the security of many many U.S. citizen children with undocumented parents matter? How long will they have to wait while the rest of us sit back feeling safe and sound?
Via / Feet in Two Worlds, Para Justicia y Libertad. , BBC, Latina Lista
