Fear and Hate Policies Along the Border: R.I.P.

For those who favor militarization and strict border enforcement along
the U.S./Mexico border, the Bush era has now become the good old days.
Yet, it is not certain that on the issue of immigration, President
Obama represents radical change or change at all.

What is certain is that the previous fear, hate and ignorance-driven
approach was ineffective. More importantly, an examination by the
Obama administration of the Bush immigration policies will show that
such approach was not simply a massive drain on the national budget,
but that it does not produce any wealth. The same could be said for
the entire Department of Homeland Security. Borne out of fear, this
department is a symbol of both the failure of the Bush administration
and the epitome of big [brother] government.

Nothing symbolizes more Bush's failure than the walls/fences along the
U.S./Mexico border. An official from Customs and Border Protection
recently announced that the 669 miles of fencing along the border - as
ordered by ex-president Bush - is now almost complete at the cost of
nearly $3 billion since 2006. Half of it is built along the
Arizona/Mexico border. It is a perverse idea that necessarily begs the
question: why 669 miles, as opposed to the full-length of the
U.S.-Mexico border? And more importantly, why not a wall along the
U.S./Canadian border or impregnable barriers along the U.S.
coastlines? Not coincidentally, Bush exempted the fencing from many
federal laws, including those involving environmental protections.

With the advent of the Obama administration, already, the walls are
tragicomic and appear to be anachronistic and more a monument to fear
and hate; it's the past struggling to survive in the future. Its only
chance appears to be more fear, more hate and more ignorance.

Several weeks prior to Obama being sworn in, I went to witness for
myself "Operation Streamline" - a mockery of a judicial proceeding
that generally convicts 70 migrants every day in federal court in
about one hour. Generally, the migrants, mostly men, are sentenced to
a private prison and then deported. Since his inauguration, I've gone
back and the sham trials continue. And the money flowing to the
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) private prison continues
unabated to the tune of $11 million per month.

Just on the basis of the nation's massive economic crisis, this
operation should be terminated immediately. We now are faced with
situations nationwide where education budgets are being shamelessly
slashed while jail and prison budgets continue to explode through the
roof. In the meantime, this nation also continues to fight two costly
and needless wars on borrowed credit.

For a nation that worries more about the bottom line than its morals,
it should actually be more concerned about its moral standing in the
world. Fear, hate and ignorance produces psychopathic behavior, such
as illegal and irrational wars, walls and moats and much ill-will
around the world.

Fear, hate and irrationality lost the election. President Obama knows
this better than anyone. This is why he was quick to order the closure
of Guantanamo and why he has called for the end to torture.

This is a good beginning. However, to truly create a new nation, the
changes have to come not simply in the realm of U.S. policies
overseas. Here in the United States, there is an entire detention
system set up to house thousands of migrants, including women and
children. They are generally incarcerated without rights, without due
process and without trials. In Texas, the Hutto detention facility
(also operated by CCA) continues to inhumanely imprison migrant
children, separating them from their families. According to the
recently released "Unseen Prisoners" study, by researchers from the
University of Arizona, some 300 migrant women were being held in
2007-2008 in three detention centers (two are operated by CCA),
subjected to unwarranted and inhumane conditions.

These facilities are not abroad, just as Operation Streamline does not
operate overseas. And just as the president has ordered a review of
all the cases at Guantanamo, it is high time that even before
pondering the possibility of immigration reform, he should examine not
simply the walls, the militarization of the border, the immigration
raids, the detention facilities and the sham trials, but also the
entire premise of his predecessor's fear-based immigration and border
enforcement policies. More than examining them, similar to
Guantanamo, they should be suspended and most of of them should be
remanded to the trash bin of history.

Truly, the president should examine the fear in this country that has
produced the highest rates of incarceration in the "civilized" world.