Today we arrived at the BorderLinks facility in Tucson, AZ. Before we set foot on ground, we had an interaction with a fellow passenger on our flight that would give us a sense of the division here. My seat mate was from North Dakota as a flight instructor and was being commissioned by Homeland Security to conduct trainings in the Tucson area, for what I could only speculate was for the further militarize the border. This individual was fearful for our group and told us that “large vans filled with drugs had ramps high enough to propel them over the wall.” Our adventure begins!
We arrived at the facility and were assigned bunk accommodations, modest but clean communal housing for the week. We will keep a vegetarian kitchen and share chores as a team. Despite having been up since 4AM and through 2 time zones, we jumped right in with our delegation leader.
First up: Crash course in immigration history. BorderLinks, an independent organization was founded out of the Sanctuary Movement of the 1980s in which local church communities were offering amnesty to migrant workers. The United States refused to acknowledge this movement for in doing so, would have to take responsibility for our part in the root causes of the dispossession of land in central America. Our dear country is no hero of democracy in this tale, benefiting economically from the shifts in power throughout the civil wars in the region.
BorderLinks offers a Popular Pedagogy form of education which is social and experimental. The context of what we learn is equally important as to how we learn it.
The afternoon progressed through a series of exercises. We answered these three questions. 1) How does the media portray the border 2) How does your community perceive the border 3) How do you perceive the border. How are these answers similar? How are they different?
Our delegation was then invited to share our questions, big and small with BorderLinks leadership. Questions that will be answered throughout our interactions with our guest speakers and through our experiences.
The basis of our learning highlights the journey of the individual. Although the border is abstract, as is much of our political turmoil, it is important to be granular. Ultimately, migration is core to the human experience. Humans have been migrating since the beginning.
“When we dehumanize, we validate acts of violence against communities”
If humans have been migrating since the beginning, when did it all go wrong? Around 1492 MANIFEST DESTINY and the COLONIZING of the WORLD. In our next session, we examined the timeline of migrant issues. Through systematic imposing of privilege and power and the very lengths the United States Government went to maintain that power for White, European Settlers. We discussed the regressive and progressive narrative of what led us to the conflicts of our conscious today and highlighted specific moments in history that had a monumental impact. 1790 – Naturalization Law. Citizenship was offered to new Americans on the basis of being 1) WHITE 2) GOOD MORAL CHARACTER. This description in reference to citizenship was not repealed until 1952, less than 75 years ago. Passage of the 14th Amendment. 1917 – Literacy Requirement for Citizenship, 1964 Civil Rights Movement, 1993-1996 Blockade Strategy on the southern border, ultimately weaponizing the desert against migrants. ECOLOGICAL WARFARE. 2001-2010 Patriot Act created Dept. of Homeland Security. Reactionary resulting in ICE without proper oversight and ultimately leading to the FOR PROFIT migration industrial Complex. Passing of SB 1070, “Show me your papers law” leading to racial profiling. ETC.
At the closing of our day, our guest was a Honduran asylum seeker. I will not attempt to tell his story for him on this forum and due to his unauthorized status, will not mention his name. He did speak and sing to us in his Native Language of Garifuna sharing his experiences with us. His current status (having been in the US for 3 years) is another 4 year wait period for a day in court to plead asylum. He journey has been difficult to say the least. To get out of a detention center, a federal judge imposed a $12,000 bail. Our friend from Honduras is now indebted to a for-profit bail bond company and must wear a tracking device 24/7, which he must pay rent for. He is unable to get aid because he is not a citizen of this country. He is unable to work anything but odd cash pay jobs. His story is one of many. His vision of America the Free has made him a captive. He has hope for a better future and we must share in that.
My delegation nominated me for MC role. I am honored to serve as the host to our guests and offer my thanks to them on behalf of our group.
A pilgrim’s journey is home. For after experiencing the holy, they return changed.
*Due to the nature of our work here, there will be limited photographs out of respect for our guests and the sensitivity of their situation. I may be able to add more once I return.
‘Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
Leviticus 27:19
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