Life and Death in the Desert

Life and Death in the Desert


Random ID checks. High intensity light surveillance. Low level helicopter flights. Fence and wall construction. Infrared sensors. Vehicle checkpoints. Unmanned drones seek evidence of weapons, or drugs, or people-smuggling. Officers patrol on foot, horseback, or jeep. Police, soldiers, or agents detain lines of people at the side of the road until they complete a computer check of citizenship and work permit status. Some are arrested, some are prosecuted, some are deported.

These scenes describe life in the West Bank, Palestine, where I served with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron this past Fall and Spring. The effects of this high level of militarization in Israel-Palestine are well-known to many religious activists. Israeli army (IDF) militarization of the West Bank has created a virtual ghetto for Palestinians, many of whom have been living in refugee camps since 1948. Militarization prevents Palestinians from freely moving between the West Bank and Israel, effectively separating the Palestinian people from their families, from their historical lands, and from decent jobs in Israel. In the name of national security, the IDF inflicts abuse and humiliation against Palestinians which would never be tolerated in Israeli society.

What is less-known is that this level of militarization also describes life on the US-Mexico border. I have been working with the CPT team in Douglas, Arizona, since I left the Middle East in May. I have found an eerie similarity between what, in the name of security, the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinians and our own government is doing to migrants from Mexico and other places south of the US border.

Israel is building a wall around Palestine, and we are building a wall on the border with Mexico. So far there are about 70 miles of wall, which is constructed of metal landing pad material leftover from the Vietnam War, on the US-Mexico border. Near Douglas and Naco, Arizona, there are many still-unused piles of this material, which has been hauled in from its storage places around the world. On one part of the wall, near Naco, a sign announces that an army engineering company based in Fort Benning, Georgia, is responsible for constructing it.

The Israel-Palestine “separation wall” and the US-Mexico “border fence” divide wealth from poverty and opportunity from desperation. The walls separate people from jobs and family. They separate people, whose ancestors have lived on the land for centuries, from their traditional land and culture. The land on the wealthy side of the walls was taken by force from darker-skinned people by primarily white colonizers. As described above, both walls are constructed in the name of national security and therefore require a high degree of additional military presence to try and secure the border.

This part scares me. Our Border Patrol is not the IDF, at least not yet. And so far, we have seen no Mexican suicide bombers. But is this where we are headed? There are proposals in Congress to increase militarization of the border zone. We have not learned from the experience of Israel. Militarization does not work. On the Israel side, people live in constant fear of violence and have become numb to the invasive presence of weapons and soldiers in their society. On the Palestine side, militarization has increased the sense of desperation among the Palestinian people, because they feel locked in without access to resources, jobs, and opportunity on the other side of the wall. Even inside the West Bank, Palestinians cannot travel freely. Desperation has led some to believe that their lives are expendable. In my view, Palestinian suicide bombings are at least as much about suicide as they are about bombing the Israelis. People do not blow themselves up if they feel hopeful about their future lives.

Since the passage of NAFTA in 1994, desperation has heightened on the Mexico side of the border. The average wage in Mexico has dropped 34%, while the cost of food, housing, and other essentials has gone up 247% (Border Action Network, Militarization and Globalization, www.borderaction.org). Hundreds of thousands of migrants cross the border into the US every year seeking better lives. Increased militarization around population areas has caused migrants to cross in remote and dangerous desert regions. There have been more than 3000 documented migrant deaths from 1995-2005 (Derechos Humanos, www.derechoshumanosaz.net). Many local activists believe that number is likely much higher and that many bodies in remote regions are never found.

In June, I walked through the desert from Sasabe, Mexico to Tucson, Arizona. It took us 7 days to walk 75 brutal miles. During the walk I realized that a person would have to be desperate to attempt this trip. I think it may have been the day that I twisted my ankle. I decided that I was going to try and walk the rest of the way anyway, because that is what a migrant would have to do---or else be left for dead. I imagined a migrant coming to the realization that he or she would not be able to continue. Ever.

If increased militarization won’t work, then what will? The answer is complicated, and includes legislative action for comprehensive immigraton reform, education about border issues, sustainable development on the south side of the border, and many other factors. I hope, though, that people of faith will look deeper than legislative advocacy and education. It seems to me that the root cause of all this militarization is racism---a fear among the white power establishment in the United States of an invasion of people of color from the south who will overrun and alter our way of life and power structure. For the Christian, working to overcome racism is core to our identity. “There is...one God and Father of all, who is above all and in all and through all” (Ephesians 4:6, NRSV). All are equal in God’s eyes. Churches must, to be true to themselves, refuse to allow their believers to live with atrocity.

This particular atrocity is a global issue. It is not just taking place on the US-Mexico border or in Israel-Palestine. Worldwide, the relatively rich and white people can travel wherever they want and access the resources they want. The poor people of color are stuck in places without enough resources to sustain them and cannot travel freely. These people are thus forced to risk their lives to cross oceans and borders in search of better lives for themselves and their families. It is time to name freedom of movement as a human rights issue and border enforcement a human rights violation.