Declaring WAR on migrants from the Central American
Northern Triangle
By mickielynn on 2018-11-30 11:50:06
| TUUANA |
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Migrants enveloped in tear
gas after some rush the border crossing, on Sunday, November 25, 2018[/caption] This is an article to update readers on
some of the most recent incidents, and threats of what are mainly illegal actions against the now more than 5,000 Central
Americans waiting to seek asylum at the San Ysidro border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico. A good (or actually really evil)
place to start is with the use of CS gas against the migrants on Sunday, November 25th. [caption id="attachment_11923"
align="alignnone" width="600"]
In Tijuana, Mexico, U.S.
border patrol officers fired tear gas Sunday, November 25th, into a crowd of desperate Central American asylum seekers as
they tried to push their way through the heavily militarized border with the United States. Photo from Democracy Now!
[/caption] But before we go any further let's state a few principles: Borders are not lines or fences. They are living
biological, social, and commercial membranes between communities and countries; with real living, breathing, striving,
people and families on both sides. The humanely regulated flow of not only people but animals, plants ideas, cultural
richness, and necessities of living is what contributes to vibrancy and life for all. Block such organic processes and you
hinder growth and health. As the Friends Committee for Legislation says:"Advocate for Welcome, Not Walls." [caption
id="attachment_11922" align="alignnone" width="600"]
: Well-wishers distribute food
to migrants outside of a sports complex where more than 5,000 Central Americans are sheltering, in Tijuana, Mexico.
President Trump wants the migrants to stay in Mexico while their asylum claims play out in U.S. immigration court.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP[/caption] [caption id="attachment_11918" align="alignnone" width="600"]
|
| e >
3 =
= pros : = Protesters supporting the
migrants and refugees in Tijuana, Mexico show their solidarity during a march next to the border wall with Mexico in the
San Ysidro neighborhood of San Diego [Mike Blake/Reuters][/caption]Let' s return to the tear gas, which is a strong
chemical banned from use in warfare and not the supposed pepper spray or OC, that has been falsely described by a former
Deputy Chief of CBP, Ron Colburn, who appeared on Fox News on Monday and famously said that you could spread tear
gas on nachos and then eat them! President Trump said something in a similar vein about the harmlessness of what he called
pepper spray. Indeed this is scientifically and biologically untrue in the extreme and such powerful gas was an
indiscriminate weapon that was deliberately spread by a helicopter flying overhead and on the wind and affected many
asylum seekers who were peacefully present in the shelter. The effects on young children and pregnant women are not
entirely known but have been found to cause lasting health problems. [caption id="attachment_11919" align="alignnone"
f 4 on
width="600"}—— cient iMate aE Te EN aie orate 725) A family run
away from tear gas in front of the border wall between the US and Mexico in Tijuana [Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters]
[/caption]Tear gas is a weapon of war that was banned internationally under chemical weapons conventions but
paradoxically is able to be employed domestically by law enforcement as "crowd control" but this was clearly unwarranted.
When everything settled about 43 people were arrested for trying to get across the border. And the Mexican government is
investigating why the US lobbed CS across the border and into another sovereign country. For more on the CBP history on
the use of tear gas since 2012, which has increased to a 7 year high under the Trump administration this is an excellent
article. And speaking of war, this whole "crisis" was created by a policy of demonizing the asylum seekers and other poor
and oppressed people fleeing violence, repression and extreme poverty as a result of the wars of the 1980's in their countries
supported by the US and the increased drug violence from the war on drugs. Climate change also plays a part since the
increasing droughts in the Central American Northern Triangle lead to more scarcity and thus more violence and economic
inequality and corruption. So President Trump and his advisors and cabinet decided to make this a fear mongering situation
to help turn out "the base" in the midterm elections. That's why instead of planning for the migrants (5,000 to 8,000
expected at the borders) he made it into an "invasion" and deployed almost 6,000 active duty troops along with the already
present CBP armed personnel and 2,100 National Guard troops also armed. Then (shame on General Mattis) they set about
blocking access to the US entry points while at the same time Trump escalated threats about not letting anyone apply for
asylum unless they used those locations. Having hemmed the migrants in and claimed that they could only process less than
100 people per day they created a problem for both the migrants who overflowed the shelters in Tijuana and had to sleep on
the streets and the beaches in all weather and also stressed the city so that the mayor needed to call for international help.
Trump (and no doubt his immigration advisors like racist, xenophobic, Stephan Miller) then placed demands on Mexico to
keep the migrants in their country while they went through the asylum process thus putting them at risk of more violence by
drug cartels and kidnappers. If the US cannot provide a safe space for these asylum seekers then we are violating the rules
of asylum both nationally and internationally and courts will probably block this order as a California judge has blocked the
denial of asylum claims to those who do not enter at official entry points. But the migrants now stuck in Tijuana are not
passive victims of all of this abuse and frustration. Here's one example of how they have taken on the task of making a list
of asylum seekers so that they can create an orderly process as they wait for their turns to ask for asylum. This helps to keep
a line in place as more migrants arrive and leave. And as you can see from the photos above, although there are some in
Tijuana who are hostile to their presence they also have lots of support, material aid and human to human interactions.
[caption id="attachment_11917" align="alignnone" width="600"]
Hundreds march in San Diego
in solidarity with migrants and refugees in Tijuana [Mike Blake/Reuters[/caption]So since Trump is what is called a
"transactional" leader let's talk finances for a short while. First the cost of this unnecessary troop deployment, which he's
now threatening to extend into January 2019, comes to at least $210 million dollars. Estimates vary a million or two
depending on the source. What if instead of making this into a war that money had been used for more immigration judges,
food, shelter and other provisions for an orderly and legal processing of asylum claims? No war, no violence, no use of
soldiers as props. And speaking of borders. The 5 hour closure of the busiest border in the US caused all kinds of financial,
physical, and emotional losses on both sides of the border.
Tijuana adds close to $20 billion to San Diego’s production each year. The value of trade between San Diego
and Mexico consistently exceeds $4 billion per year. Commercial exchange between Tijuana and San Diego is
valued at $2.1 million daily.
The mayor and other officials of San Diego went into more details about how Trump's threatened closure would affect
everything from traffic to commerce to people's lives and relationships.
...a Shutdown would halt 70,000 car trips and 20,000 pedestrian trips across the border daily. And it would
endanger the livelihood of upwards of 30,000 people a day who cross the border daily to get to work — many
of them Americans who “can’t afford to live in San Diego,”
And now since the budget expires on December 7th we need Congress to grow a spine and reject the immigration provisions
in Trump's proposed FY 2019 budget. These provisions will reward the Department of Homeland Security with more
money to build the "wall" and to fund the cruel abuses of Customs and Border Protection and ICE at home and on the
borders. We have agreement with about 80% of Americans that the wall is a bad idea and that separation of families,
attempts to deny asylum and other abuses are wrong. [caption id="attachment_1 1936" align="alignnone" width="600"]
tw,
» Homeland
~@ security
President DonaldTrump's
FY2019 budget would give the Department of Homeland Security significant money for technology to support a border
wall.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_ 11935" align="alignnone" width="600"]
US ,Mexico border view. Not
everyone in Texas wants a border wall![/caption] We can let Congress know in no uncertain terms how we feel and what we
want. This is from an ACLU petition, or you can use your own words instead.
As your constituent, I urge you to reject the proposed budget bill that would increase the already-bloated budget
of the Department of Homeland Security. With the proposed budget, DHS would have even more resources to
abuse immigrants and to build an unnecessary and harmful border wall. Our members of Congress have a
responsibility to listen to their constituents, who widely rejected Trump's anti-immigrant agenda at the ballot
box. By December 7, Congress will have to decide whether they'll uphold the will of the people and block this
bad budget bill. That would push the final decision on a long-term DHS budget into the next Congress, where it
belongs. Trump's proposed budget would reward DHS with an unprecedented level of resources to pursue its
cruel policies. That means more money to separate families, conduct warrantless searches, and commit abuses
against children in custody. And more than anything else, this budget bill would fund the construction of
Trump's border wall — his #1 campaign promise — which would harm communities living in our borderlands and
destroy the environment. It's mind-boggling that we'd reward Trump after everything he's done — and continues
to do — to attack immigrants and their loved ones.
