Dehumanization: The Government's Treatment of Homeless Migrants
by BENJAMIN LANG
Benjamin Lang is a student at Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University and is a recipient of the coveted Flynn Scholarship.
This past spring break, I was given the chance to work with the organization No More Deaths, an Arizona-based, non-governmental organization that provides water, food, and medical assistance to migrants crossing the US Mexican border. I thought that I had a firm grasp on the critical issues of the border: I have lived my entire life in Arizona, I speak Spanish fluently and have many immigrant friends, and I keep up with border news. However, I was completely unprepared for the situation that I saw firsthand. Upon arrival, what I found was not a secure, well-controlled border where criminals were punished fairly and citizens were protected. I found a human rights crisis being perpetrated by our government all in the justification of a failing border policy. As you read this, someone is struggling to survive while in Border Patrol custody just a few hours south of you. People are dying of thirst, they are alone, and their bodies will never be found. A mother is struggling to come home to her children, but must struggle through hot, rocky desert for days without water or food in the hopes of reaching them. The United States Department of Homeland Security has pointedly made sure it is their mission that people are tortured by the desert in the hopes that they will not return.
At what point does our border security involve the purposeful dehumanization of people? That line was crossed when the Border Patrol made the policy decision to pursue a goal of deterrence: if enough people are forced out of the urban border crossing points (through intense scrutiny and overly tight checkpoints) into the desert where they can be humiliated, injured, or killed by the extreme conditions, fewer people will want to cross. The Border Patrol cannot control the flow of up to three thousand people every day, so people are let through the more treacherous desert regions in the hopes that they will injure themselves and go back home without Border Patrol’s help. The US government has literally written these principles into policy.
“Humanitarian aid is never a crime,” the motto of No More Deaths proclaims. Reform is needed, but until this happens we should be able to give help to everyone in need of it. The desert is a harsh place for anyone and we offer help to migrants and Border Patrol alike. We take no political stance and never lie when asked about what we are doing. We are not aiding or abetting anyone in breaking the law through crossing. Our place is simply to give dignity to a group of people suffering though worse conditions than any US thief, murderer, or rapist within the confines of the US system. I do not mean to attack the Border Patrol or the US government. This is simply a plea for more assistance for, and less resistance to, humanitarian aid volunteers working to save lives.
In a report presented to Congress, No More Deaths interviewed migrants upon their deportation and recorded human rights violations. Examples include sexual harassment, humiliation, refusal to give basic necessities, and physical abuse. For the first seventy-two hours of taking a person in to deport back to Mexico or another nation, the Border Patrol has no enforced regulations on what they can and cannot do. Stories of starved and dehydrated groups of twenty being given a single package of saltine crackers, or a man deported with a cactus spine still in his eye, or a sick and shivering child denied a blanket are not uncommon. The Border Patrol often uses helicopters to scare migrants into hiding, causing groups to split, leaving people without guides to wander the desert. To make things worse, people who are deported are often left in Nogales or other border towns, which are usually huge distances away from their true homes in central or southern Mexico, El Salvador, or Guatemala. Rather than make the trip home as failures, many of these people are brave enough to attempt the crossing again in order to support their families and communities back home. The vast majority of those deported will try again as soon as they can. The system isn’t deterring anyone and is only causing harm and damage in a terrible way.
One hundred and eighty-three bodies have been found in the desert just this year. Bodies have been found ranging in age from newborn to sixty-three, and most are younger than twenty-five. One hundred and eighty-three is a small sample of the actual number of deaths, as so many bodies will never be found. This is not simply a political issue. These are people, real people, brave enough to leave their own communities looking for work that will allow them to actually support themselves and their families when ten dollars a month just isn’t enough for a family of seven. People have a right to dignity and life. Until the issue is fixed, and it will take radical change to do so, humanitarian aid groups must not be hindered in their abilities to attempt to help anyone. We help only a small percentage of those making the dangerous journey, but every person taking the risk is part of the human family and deserves to be treated with respect.
Please support the work of humanitarian aid groups along the border and educate yourself as a voter and community member. We must all work to solve the border issue, because it is so much more than a political or economic problem: it is, quite truly, a matter of life and death.
The abuse documentation report can be viewed at:
http://nomoredeaths.org/index.php/Abuse-Report/