Guest Column
Basta! Enough!
(Editor’s Note: Operation Gatekeeper was planned and ordered by Attorney General Janet Reno during the Clinton Administration officially beginning on October 1, 1994)
- Basta! Enough!
- By Enrique Morones
This weekend marks the anniversary of one of the worst human rights violations in US history. Operation Gatekeeper, it began 11 years ago this weekend, and it has contributed more than 4000 confirmed deaths of Mexican economic migrants; 16,000 incapacitated economic migrants and countless families wondering will he, will she ever come home, are they alive, are they dead, are they forced into slave labor, forced prostitution?
1000 of the migrants that have passed on, are unidentified, it is estimated that the real number of deaths caused by gatekeeper in 11 years is closer to 10,000. 10,000 people, 10,000 mothers cry out, why, why do they hate us so? Before operation gatekeeper there were only a dozen or so deaths a year. We need to stop this madness. With all the shouting, no one is listening. The US has the jobs, the population is getting older (median age 39.) Mexico has the very capable workers (median age 25) Supply and demand folks, it's economics 101, but race, yes race is the issue. Stop the racism, give us immigration reform.
This year with Hate crimes in the US at all time highs; with hate radio like Rodger and Roberts locally; with Hate television like Dobbs and O'Reilly nationally; with extremist legislation across the country its no wonder that this evil has lead to the open return of the KKK, the open return of Racist Vigilante like groups, the open return of Hate Texas Ranger like groups, like the racist rebirth of the Minutemen groups, like the Jim Gilchrist/Chris Simcox "Minutemen"; Jimmy Chase and the "California Minutemen" and Ron Prince and his "Friends of the Border Patrol"
Never in modern times, had such hate within the United States and so much hate directed at the United States. The empire is falling, it began to fall the day the Supreme Court at the turn of the millennium elected a President that the people did not want and now even more do not want. With failed leadership 120,000 civilians die in Iraq, terrorism grows worldwide like never before, the state gets fooled by an action hero and the action hero fails, he screams "close the border", "the minutemen are terrific"...yet act 1 is over and the people don't want the terminator: HASTA LA VISTA BABY the people don't want the president, he's failed MISSION UNACCOMPLISHED.
Yet the economic migrants continue to come, as they have for hundreds of years, to their native lands, the migrants come, the ones that pick your food for your families, they take care of your kids, serve the food in your homes, the homes they build, as they maintain the yards, so you can shop and buy groceries at low prices, as they have picked your food, at a low wage for you, yet they too want to feed their families so they do the jobs no else will do, these migrants are here to work and help stimulate the economy of two countries. They are here to work and contribute BILLIONS to social security that they'll never see, they pay taxes for products and services, they keep our costs down. They don't come here because they want to, they come because they have to. Mexico is a developing country, yet its northern neighbor is the world economic giant. It has less than 5 % of the world’s population yet consumes more that 25 % of the world’s natural resources, is that fair? These economic migrants help stimulate the economy and are here to give, not take. When was the last time you saw a Latino on a corner with a sign that says will work for food? You don't see it, yet you do see Latinos on corners ready to jump in the back of your car and go do some hard work.
Yet the hate continues as one sided hate rallies are held at Carlsbad in a high school with hundreds of armed law enforcement and messages of hate being screamed from the podium, what was missing was the Nazi flag behind the speakers as debate was not welcome, nor were facts, nor was the truth only ignorance and hate. Basta Enough!!!
The empire is falling and someone needs to be targeted, why not the usual, the most vulnerable. Instead of "give me your weak and your tired", its lets attacks the weak and the tired, as hate grows and people die. Operation gatekeeper has been a horrendous failure, just ask the 10,000 mothers and if that was not bad enough, while Mexico sends military troops to Louisiana to help out with the Katrina Tragedy, the Bush administration allows armed racist vigilantes to go to the border to "attack the monster" as the California Minutemen web site said. Now the "minutemen" promote the preferred rifle, when not telling "people" to bring machetes and baseball bats and then they wonder why the world calls them racists.
They use props and puppets to promote their message of hate, migrants get shot, migrants die...and even thought the minutemen groups have become a huge failure and an international joke, the migrants aren't laughing as more have died this year than ever. The whole world is watching and they ask is the same United States that preaches human rights, yet gives us Abu Ghraib, isn't this the same United States that warns the world of the evil of illegal drugs them consumes more that 80% of the worlds illegal drugs, is this the same United States that complains about pollution, yet ignores international accords and is responsible for one third of the worlds pollution, is this the same United States the claims to fight terror then terrorizes its own people with class and race wars like never before and has caused the creation of more terrorist cells around the world?
The whole world is watching, the Katrina response failure, Operation Gatekeeper failure, the corrupt elections and politicians, the racist vigilante minutemen groups, the hate radio and TV, the hypocritical do as I say, not as I do philosophy of massive bush league deception and misrepresentation.
What would Jesus do? I assure you, he would not be a minuteman, he would not invade Iraq, he would not militarize the border, he would not build walls of hate, HE would preach love & does. He would say and said, "If I was hungry who gave me to eat, If I was thirsty who gave me to drink, when I was in prison, who visited me"? Love God and Love your brother, that is all. SHAME ON YOU OPERATION GATEKEEPER, SHAME ON YOU MINUTEMEN, SHAME ON YOU WHO REMAIN SILENT, as in the end it was not those that spoke out, but those that remained silent that pay the biggest price. We will remember our friends as we are the latest target of hate, but we will never forget, never forget those that remained silent as others were shamed, as others were crippled, as other died.
We are all of the same race, the human race. It's time we started to act like it. George Bush, tear down that wall.
- _________________________________________
- Enrique Morones is an activist and Founder & President of Border Angels
- http://www.borderangels.org/ Contact at: enriquemorones@cox.net
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