Borderlinks Delegation

Hello everyone, big and small, tall and short-

Again it has been awhile, but what can I say? I've been busy, hot and turning 21. But hopefully I'll have some posts up quick to update with the few family members that still read this. Time has continued to fly like a dragonfly chasing the sun and it is already mid May and full fledged summer here in Tucson- at least in my mind. Mid 90's just about everyday, though we haven't hit triple digits yet so I guess technically it's not summer yet. Work has been going well, were down to a pretty small group so work is never short but I don't hate it yet so I count that to be a good thing.

So two weekends ago my house had an opportunity to go on a Borderlinks delegation- this is a really sweet organization that does week long sort of border/immigration crash course lessons and seminars, it's a very cool place and I recommend to anyone who ever has time in Tucson, AZ to check them out, it will change your life. Our friends over at the YAV house- Young Adult Volunteers, if you forgot- 2 of them work there and so got us a great discounted deal to go on a 4 day delegation over a weekend. Since we all work we couldn't afford to take a whole week off so we had to squeeze it in over a long weekend, Friday to Monday.

We got to hear many speakers on the issues of immigration and the border that included head of the Coalicion de Derechos Humanos- Coalition of Human Rights- which is a human rights group that does statistics on immigrant deaths etc. and legislative lobbying as best they can to bring awareness to the greater public about what is really going on at the border. We talked to an immigration activist that is a member of the Tohono O'oham nation whose reservation is on both the Mexican and U.S. and where the immigrants crossing illegally have been funneled by the wall and border patrol presence. We met with a public defender, John Fife who is the coolest guy ever and who started the Sanctuary movement, if you've never heard of it look it up, as well as started No Mas Muertes- No More Deaths- which is a volunteer program that goes out to aid immigrants crossing the desert since many underestimate the extremes of the desert and length of trip so many need emergency medical aid just to survive. We got to go Agua Prieta which is a border town, U.S. side is called Douglas, Mexican side Agua Prieta. Spent a day and a half there, heard some speakers, went to iglesia. We also got to go to an Operation Streamline hearing which is a new program that the government has instituted only at few places. It started in Texas, moved to Yuma and has been recently adopted by Tucson. It is a form of a criminal hearing that has shifted the handling of undocumented immigrants from immigration judges in the executive branch to the legislative branch and making it a federal issue of prosecution. Around 70 men and women are moved through a sentencing hearing that lasts anywhere from 30 mins to 3 hrs depending on the judge, everyday of the week. It would be nice to explain it more but I feel I might do a poor job and bore anyone trying to read this entire entry. So instead I'm going to just post one of journal entries that I wrote during the Streamline hearing. It is a representation of what I saw and an interpretation of what was going through in my mind- it should not be taken as fact or be interpreted as a verbatim representation of all immigrants or Operation Streamline hearings.

April 29, OPERATION STREAMLINE- Tucson Federal Court
"Immigrants sitting side by side on wooden pews far to the left, handcuffed, chained to their waist, feet shackled. Public defenders in and out, squeezed between seats going over the last few points, last clarifications. Some speak to one another, most are silent- thoughts swirling in a dream of uncertainty, fear, helplessness. Headphones held in the chained hands, quiet before its imminent sentence is translated to their native language. Six looming metal heads line the front, like X's marking the spot- not for hidden treasure but for the streamline of injustice and broken legislation that has created this juxtaposition. Middle benches are speckled with a few public defenders, waiting to take their place on the main floor- more have taken individual desks further towards the room, in front of the almighty judge, with more room to spread out briefs, notes, schedules- busy with paper flipping, pen scribbling, head rubbing revealing the tired, beaten minds fighting a battle that will never be won. Not as long as the suits, sitting fat on Capitol Hill far from the states, the communities, the families, the men, women and children, continue to pass legislation- founded upon racism, fear and injustice- that tear these groups to pieces, antagonizing them to fight against one another instead the system that put them there."
"You see it in the men's faces- a quiet solitude, a weathered and tired solace, fighting to climb a hill that continually grows higher. Border Patrol and U.S. Marshall sit by the exit doors, silent but powerful watchmen that imprint their dominion over the court and even the air with their swagger and smirk. You feel the depressive mood in the room, like dark clouds blotting out the sun on a spring morning- the tension prickles your skin as before lightning strikes close by during a storm. Never knowing how to survive the storm, how to escape the lightening- how long you will be in jail, how your wife will survive, how your children will eat."
"The Border Patrol Agent instructs all the immigrants to put their headphones on in preparation of the judge entering the courtroom. Interpreter up front, to the right hand of the judge, ready, poised to be bridge between fairytale and reality, dream and nightmare- a true bearer of bad news. Each man and woman, named, stands, "presente", acknowledged and checked off the long list by the clerk and represented by a number code labeling each individual. Like items on a grocery list crossed off, not to be forgotten or get lost in the numbers. Full reality sinks in as each speaks his/her single word of attendance breaks the thin layer of membrane separating the minds from the last hope of this all just being a bad dream- the realization that life will no longer be as it used to be. Each defender rises to claim their defendants that they represent, all handled orderly, brief, routinely, no point unnecessary- time here is not a commodity willing to be wasted on such small trivialities as a human beings life and livelihood. Each checker placed in a pre-meditated spot by the grandmaster named government- shielded by the word called "Democracy"- so as to control the game from the start, never allowing a misplaced checker to go unnoticed, a wrong move corrected. Government always wins."
"A woman stands tall, knowing what she believes is true, that she has done nothing wrong. A naive idea to all who have not stood in the same shoes as her- sent back to sit down so as to longer distract the order and routine of the courts proceedings and delay others from shouldering their sentences through the only exit there is for them, the one that leads to a jail cell. Like a child misbehaving during class she is sent back to her seat, as if in timeout to receive further "guidance" by her defender so as to fully understand the impossible situation she is in and to be told she cannot move her checker piece there, that is not allowed by the grandmaster, you must move it here, nod your head there, say "si" here, say "no" then, say "culpable" now and you will be on your way."
"The idea is astonishing, the difference between the two lines of men, one line in a suit and papers in hand the others in jeans and hands chained, what could be more ambiguous of a reason that separates these two lines of men then where they were born? What makes these men a greater being- of great importance then those men standing in front, answering in a unison chorus to the magistrates questions? Laws and legislation put in place by the rich, short-sighted bureaucrats to those poor and them wealthy. To keep you out and them comfortable- turning community after community against their very own brothers and sisters. How long will this hate go on? How long ago did this land, the land this very building is built upon, belong to the ancestors of those we are sending to prison? What kind of sick irony are we writing?
"An assembly line of injustice, boxing human beings like high demand products ready to export. One by one inspected, questioned, packed and boxed- stamped with "Wrong address, please return to sender". While our tax dollars are pouring into the prison system that houses and feeds these people, millions of dollars wasted on innocent people, vertebrae of the American economy, the true heroes- yet they are treated with contempt and racism because the media tell us that they are dangerous, they steal jobs, a burden on the economy."

To end this blog entry, here are just a few of my lingering thoughts that I have come away with, not only from Borderlinks but from literature I've been reading and experiences and time here in Tucson.


Who should we really be blaming for this disastrous situation we like to call "Secure the Border" the immigrants crossing the hellish desert for 4 to 7 days to live under constant fear and prejudice all for the sake of feeding their families since work in Mexico is scarce and supporting yourself by the earth is no longer economically feasible? Or the greedy, truly law breaking employers who hire undocumented workers and pay them under the counter so as to cut their taxes and make double, triple profits on the backs of cheap, non-benefits labor? The immigrants and the unemployed of America, whose relationship has bred the most contempt are the ones are the closest of brothers there is. We must erase the shroud that hides the roots of the problem, stop hating each other, and start working together to fight the system that we call a democratic government. Once united, the poor, immigrant, unemployed, oppressed, trampled, uncared for veterans, disadvantaged, discriminated against it will be a force no longer suppressed but a movement that sweeps the nation and the world. Things are bad now- and if you question this take some time to read the news- but if we don't start acting now things will only get worse. Derechos Humanos said "If we don't start thinking differently everything will stay the same." Unity, peace and love will be the new words of freedom. We have to change our way of thinking, our ideologies, change what money means, what success means- we have forgotten what happiness is, what harmony with the earth is, what it feels like to be healthy. The system is broken, but it can fixed- it needs to be fixed.
Shift the power.

EL MUNDO NECESITA MAS AMOR