CPTnet
8 December 2006

US-MEXICO BORDERLANDS: Increasing militarization

by Rick Ufford-Chase

For those of us living on the US-Mexico border, this year's steady news of
efforts to "seal the border" by our government feels like a tidal wave. We
hear talk of a "virtual fence" of sensors, cameras, and high tech equipment
to secure the desert. The number of Border Patrol personnel is up 30% in
the last five years, and is projected to grow from twelve to eighteen
thousand by the end of 2008. Six thousand National Guard troops have been
stationed on the southern border since last spring. In October, President
Bush authorized the construction of a 700-mile wall across southern Arizona.

In November, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County (Phoenix metro area)
announced that he is finalizing an agreement that will give his police
officers authority to enforce immigration law, defying the traditional
barriers between local law enforcers and Federal government immigration
enforcement. What will happen when large numbers of people in the community
are afraid to call the police for help?

On Thanksgiving Day, a friend from the Samaritans (a volunteer search and
rescue patrol) called to report that she had a run-in with guards from
Wackenhut, a private security firm accused of egregious human rights
violations in the past. Apparently, they now have the contract to provide
detention buses to remove migrants picked up in the desert.

Advocates for migrants are gravely concerned that the accelerating
militarization of the border creates fertile ground for abuses against
people detained for violations of immigration law.

This winter, CPT will be working with local border groups in an attempt to
standardize the documentation, denunciation, and publication of any abuses
committed by the tens of thousands of officers now charged with enforcing
immigration law.