The militarization of the U.S.-México border zone has expanded during the administrations of Bush, Obama, Trump and now Biden. The Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are organizations under the Department of Homeland Security, for which DHS Chief Information Officer Eric Hysen commented that his agency had the “largest budget ever enacted,” jumping to $29.8 billion, a $3 billion increase from 2022. Todd Miller, an author and journalist, stated in the Border Chronicle newsletter that all the funding for drones, artificial intelligence (AI) and biometrics has created a “border bonanza as the Biden Administration becomes the largest border contractor in U.S. history.”
The U.S.-México border has undergone a build-up of military surveillance to keep migrants, who are leaving their homelands, out of the United States. Why is this happening? Migration of people has happened throughout humanity’s history. Some enslaved people were forcefully brought from other countries. Today, most are fleeing violence, devastating climate change and seeking opportunities to survive and provide for their families. This is not a crime. The United States has a long history of destabilizing other governments and meddling to control outside its own borders. Thus, the main capitalist country, the United States, became known as a nation of immigrants.
Today, we face the reality that governments are making it more difficult to migrate. Technology is reducing the need for human labor, plus, the rulers of the United States have determined that by charging fees for applications like DACA renewals every two years, money can be made by making these quasi-laws. Another is paying into social security but not being eligible to receive it. Humankind revolves around family and caring for beloved members, providing for their basic needs despite changes in economies or laws. We cannot afford to allow our governments to dictate the future for the movement of people in search of a safe place to make a living and secure the future of their lives and families.
A relatively new wave of migrants from Haïti, Venezuela, Colombia and Cuba, many of them nonwhite, have joined the Mexicans and Central Americans at the U.S.-México border seeking asylum in the United States. Many were led to believe that “just get to the border and they will let you in,” because the Title 42 restrictions imposed during the height of the pandemic were going to expire. Instead, days turned into months for those who made the treacherous journey from their homelands, surviving assault, extortion, kidnapping, rape, thirst, hunger, medical needs and the death of family members to get this far. The U.S. government knows all this but is not taking measures to help. This is the face of fascism where government is not for the people, but for the corporations. In fact, not too long ago, it separated children from the migrant families and put them in cages, then lost them to detention centers and nightmarish experiences. Unaccompanied minors were put to work instead of enrolled in school.
This time around, the show of force at the border was to prepare for an expected “migrant invasion” after the lifting of the Title 42 policy, which had harmed millions of asylum seekers with the lie that Title 42 was to protect American residents from illness. That surge at the border did not happen and now government leaders are re-grouping to decide which policies to continue or change. That includes what they must do to distract the public from discovering the dangers of rising fascism if they keep their control and power over migration.
Ports of entry are located near the more populated sections of the border. Delays in entering have forced migrants to seek other sections, whose greater danger is shown by the number of deaths due to walking through deserts and other dangerous terrain, facing kidnappings and violence. Corporations run the U.S. government through their campaign contributions and lobbying and they don’t want to “waste” financial resources on assisting desperate migrants. In fact, it is the overwhelmed charities and nonprofit community groups that are providing the food, blankets, water, etc., but FEMA often will not reimburse them.
Resisting state and federal attacks
The limits on what charity can do led the director of El Paso’s Centro de los Trabajadores Agrícolas Fronterizos (Center for Border Farm Workers) to tell Rally! in 2020: “Relieving suffering is very important, but that vision limits migrants to being seen as ‘the poor’ and such limited actions as ‘helping victims.’ … We see immigration as an act of anti-capitalist resistance, a resistance founded by the destiny that the system has imposed on them. So, we have to recognize their leading role, and advance it.” (See https://rally-theleague.org/immigration-struggle-in-texas/)
Militarization vs. basic needs
Now, state governments are getting involved, but for the worse. Starting last year, Texas governor Greg Abbott and Florida governor Ron DeSantis have coordinated a new tactic of using their funds to have private companies bus or fly thousands of captured migrants out of the South to cities like New York, Washington, Chicago and Sacramento. These migrants were given false pretexts of job offers, but ended up being dropped off near public and private agencies. California attorney general Rob Bonta has threatened to charge Florida officials with kidnapping and other crimes. And amidst prodding by immigration rights activists, the sheriff’s office in Bexar County, Texas announced it has recommended criminal charges over two flights last year to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is spreading a more orchestrated immigration system worldwide. The newly announced processing centers that asylum seekers will have to apply through in México and Guatemala are soon to be joined by the first-ever processing centers in either Ecuador or Costa Rica. Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas claims the goal is “to reach people where they are – to cut the smugglers out and to have them avoid the perilous journey that too many make.” But the new asylum application process requires using the CBP ONE app with a smartphone, which leaves the poorest seekers out. As we enter the 2024 election season, a number of bills is being proposed that would adjust the status of migrants living in the United States, some of whom have patiently waited 20 to 30 years for the opportunity to adjust their undocumented status. Each proposal has included the issue of increasing border security. Only the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act introduced by Reps. Joaquín Castro of Texas and Ted Lieu of California focuses on extending a path to citizenship for up to 5.2 million undocumented immigrants who worked in jobs designated essential during the Covid-19 pandemic, noting that they have contributed to the economy and provide up to $79.7 billion in federal taxes and $41 billion in state and local taxes annually. The actions and words of thousands of fighters have certainly influenced these politicians and though this bill doesn’t provide rights for all immigrants needing them, it verifies what the most dedicated fighters have consistently said: providing for the basic needs of migrants helps provide for the needs of others. In the face of escalating fascism by federal and state governments, that is an objectively revolutionary position. The basis for unity is here: Unite for human needs regardless of immigration status. The borders are fading.
Published on July 6, 2023
This article originated in Rally!
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