Checkpoint Carlos

So we are building a fence and sending national guard troops to protect our southern border. The reasons given include to keep illegal aliens out and to hinder the drug trade.

First question – if we need to keep illegal aliens out so badly, why are 12 million of them being offered the chance to stay in our country?

Second question – why are we militarising a friendly border?

In the country where I live, borders will be taken down soon – when the Czech Republic joins the Schengen Agreement, for which they are now preparing. That means that when I drive to Germany, I will only know that I am crossing the imaginary line when I see the sign saying Willkommen in Deutschland.

The last border I walked across was the one separating Israel and Jordan. That was a lovely Iron Curtain experience. I was questioned by the Israelis on my way out, harassed by their security on the way back in and then interrogated on and off for 45 minutes before they finally let me back into the country. (Keep in mind that I am a Jew and I speak Hebrew.) In between the Israeli checkpoint and the Jordanian checkpoint was about 200 metres of no man’s land across which we had to walk. It was closed in on either side by hugely tall fences with barbed wire at the top. Or perhaps it was razor wire. An interesting experience certainly, but not a comfortable one. Is that what the US is aiming towards?

In answer to my first question above, we do not need to keep the illegal aliens out. In fact, we need them inside the country to keep the economy going. I am from California, where the agricultural industry is dependent on migrant workers.

The answer to the second question is much more sinister. The militarization of the border is the not so subtle next step towards martial law. The guardsmen (and women) will be there not to keep aliens out, they will be there to keep US citizens in or, at the very least, to control our movements. Just like the government’s mission to collect information through domestic spying, they are not being open and honest with their motives.

My oldest nephew is 16. Will he be able to get out of the country before he is drafted to fight in Bush’s crusade? I have my doubts.

Small steps, my friends, but they are getting bigger and more brazen, and leading in a wrong and very dangerous direction.