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The military solution to U.S.
immigrant crisis
TEXAS Governor Rick Perry announced the deployment
of 1,000 National Guard troops to the Mexican border
as of August, to contain the flow of undocumented
immigrants, amid an unprecedented rise in
unaccompanied and undocumented minors arriving to
the U.S. from Mexico and Central America.
The state of Texas will deploy more than 1,000
National Guard troops
on the Mexican border to reinforce security in the
midst of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, with
the arrival of tens of thousands of unaccompanied
minors, the majority from Central America, to the
U.S.
Perry, potential 2016 Republican Presidential
candidate, denied that the measure means the
militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Adjutant General
John Nichols
of
the Texas
National Guard
said that troops will only be used to dissuade
immigrants.
Even
though it is true that the National Guard is
comprised of volunteers and under the command of
state governors, it is after all a military
organization, with a variety of naval, terrestrial
and aerial means at its disposal, and its units have
participated in conflicts such as the war in Iraq.
One of the significant differences between this
agency and other branches of the armed forces – the
Army, Navy and Air Force – is that the latter are
prohibited from enforcing law with the use of arms
within U.S. territory, while the National Guard is
authorized to shoot inside the country.
It
would therefore be extremely naive to believe that
the deployment of troops will only be limited to
dissuading undocumented immigrants, and it is
reprehensible that the Texan government is
attempting to downplay the significance of its own
decision, and cover up the seriousness of a measure
which means, plainly and simply, the militarization
of the border.
On
the contrary, Perry’s decision is another step
forward in the policy of criminalization and
persecution of immigrants by U.S. authorities. With
the deployment of the National Guard, those who
cross the Texan border in search of a better life
will not only face the dangers of a harsh natural
environment; traffickers in persons; abuse from
corrupt police on both sides of the border; and the
sadism of racist civil groups devoted to hunting
immigrants, now they will also face military forces
trained in warfare and the physical annihilation of
the enemy. Far from mitigating the dramatic
situation thousands of undocumented immigrants face
daily, it will only make their circumstances more
uncertain and dangerous.
While recognizing that the decision forms part of
the political use the Republicans have made of the
immigration issue to attack the Obama
administration, and that Perry himself has exhibited
xenophobic and intolerant attitudes, it can not be
overlooked that the principal responsibility for the
circumstances which the migrants – in particular
children - suffer in the U.S. lies with the
President.
After all, with just over two years left until he
completes his second term in office, Obama has not
been able to honor one of his main campaign
promises: immigration reform. He has done nothing to
combat the mistreatment and persecution which
undocumented migrants suffer in the U.S, but on the
contrary, has exacerbated these tendencies and has
deported more immigrants than any other U.S.
president.
The
so-called human crisis which the U.S. immigration
phenomenon has become would not have emerged if
Washington’s ruling class, starting with their own
President, would accept once and for all that there
is no simpler, more constructive or coherent
solution than to decriminalize immigration. For now
however, and for all intents and purposes, this
phenomenon will continue to be considered a military
threat by U.S. authorities, against all logic and
the most basic human principles. (Excerpts from La
Jornada)
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