Opinions do not necessarily represent CUIndependent.com or any of its sponsors.
Dealers in spy technology are getting a boost from our government’s obsession with the Mexican border, and nowhere was that more clear than at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, AZ last week. Firms like Cognitec and Black Diamond got to showcase everything from facial recognition to drone technology in front of law enforcement, and it’s not a stretch to think that Mexico was on everybody’s mind. Our southern border is definitely where the demand is, since over 18,000 agents were stationed there in 2013. Tech companies obviously agree with the idea that borders are sacred sites, and that the government should pull out all the stops when it comes to preventing anything (or anyone) from crossing “illegally.” Should we be on board with any of this?
Showcasing the latest and greatest technology in people-finding shows that the immigration panic in America is out of control. The Border Security Expo would be fascinating (and more than a little awkward) if the political and economic refugees we call “illegal immigrants” could attend. Maybe they would get a picture of what their friends and families will have to deal with in the coming years. Thankfully for the tech companies, the victims of their gadgets are placed firmly in a class of people that won’t be a bother anytime soon. The logic happens to be on the side of the immigrants, though.
If the U.S. suddenly had a stroke of sanity, it would realize that our immigration debates (and half of the U.S. map) are a bit of a joke. Names like San Francisco and New Mexico didn’t fall out of the sky—the entire Southwest used to be Mexican territory before the U.S. invaded in 1846, slicing it up into fancy new states like California and Arizona. Almost two centuries later, we’re throwing our hands up in the air and wondering why Mexicans aren’t staying on the other side of the Rio Grande. Maybe it’s because they never agreed that the river is where their country ends and another one begins. If an international border suddenly appeared between Boulder and, say, the rest of Colorado, more than a few CU students would try to cross it every year. Who in their right mind would stop us?
But these are Mexican citizens we’re talking about, and making decisions without asking them is basically a reflex of our two governments. It’s hard to imagine that Mexican citizens chose to enact the North American Free Trade Agreement (N.A.F.T.A.), the 1992 deal between the U.S., Canada and Mexico that sent Mexican wages down and poverty skyrocketing barely after the ink had dried. Mexicans didn’t get much time to ask their president about it either, since he went into exile a year after N.A.F.T.A. went into affect. With a wealthier country being just across the Rio Grande, it’s no wonder that Mexicans are making the trek northward.
Of course, Central Americans in general are making the dangerous crossing into the U.S., and our government isn’t any less responsible for these refugees than it is for the Mexico’s economic disasters. The common factor for migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras seems to be violence at home. Pick one of these countries at random to look at its history, and the U.S. was on one side of a bloody civil war.
In light of all of this, the idea that migrants need to be kept from crossing the Mexican border at all costs is a cruel one. It’s just a way of avoiding our responsibility for other people. If we do become more civilized, victims will be seen as victims and the “border-industrial complex” on display in Phoenix will become a thing of the past. It’s just a matter of seeing the bigger picture behind the tragedies on our border with Mexico- a small thing to do when the history is staring us in the face.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jared Conner at jared.conner@colorado.edu.
