The Bush administration recently announced the construction of a
700-mile fence across the U.S.-Mexico border under the guise of
“increasing homeland security.”
If this was truly about homeland security, President Bush would
be advocating building a fence along Canada’s border as
well.
Associating Latin American immigrants with terrorism only serves
to demonize them while vindicating hateful groups such as the
Minute Men.
The cost of the fence has been estimated to be upward of $8
billion, yet there is only $1.2 billion allocated for the project.
This means that the Bush administration will likely have to come
back to the American people at a later point to ask for the
difference.
Although costly, the 700-mile fence leaves about 1,200 miles of
border unfenced. If this fence is constructed, what will happen
when undocumented people keep coming across the border?
How many billions of dollars are going to be poured
unnecessarily into this ineffective public-policy issue?
The fence does nothing to address the reason immigrants risk
their lives on a daily basis to come to the United States.
The GOP may be incredibly corrupt, but it has not remained in
power by being stupid. The Bush administration understands this
will not stem the flow of immigration from the south, and its
corporate contributors who rely on cheap immigrant labor thank it
for that.
Unfortunately, there is a human cost associated with such
policies. People immigrate to the United States from Latin America
out of need as opposed to choice.
The bottom line is that border fences do not work. Erecting a
fence as was done in Operation Gatekeeper changes the flow of
immigration away from urban centers and toward the barren deserts.
This has resulted in the loss of thousands of lives due to harsh
conditions.
The nation is facing a record deficit, education is dramatically
underfunded, and we are spending billions of dollars every month to
fight a war in Iraq.
Instead of spending its time maliciously using Latino/as as
political cannon fodder, perhaps the Bush administration should do
what it was elected to do: Be public ““ as opposed to self
““ servants.
Cabrera is a higher education and organizational change
graduate student.