Crossing Borders

People have been crossing the border and ending up in Tucson for years. Once, before the Gadsden Purchase, there was no border. Then for a long time, it was very casual, with people going back and forth for business and family visits and thinking little of it.

There came a time when people fleeing violence in the South began to arrive here seeking shelter. The wheels of bureaucracy turned slowly, slowly, as these political refugees petitioned for asylum. For some, the ones from Nicaragua and some of the ones from El Salvador, their politics were not right. Along the border, a system of sanctuary churches quietly called itself into being. It was an interfaith effort, involving Catholics, Presbyterians, and Unitarian Universalists that I know of, and the memory of this forms the oldest layer of organizing around illegal border crossing in this area. When I visited the Unitarian Universalist Church here in Tucson, I saw the oddly placed sign outside the minister's office and heard the story that it covered the hole the FBI had made when they broke in and went through the files to find out where the political refugees were being hidden.

Now, people fleeing economic catastrophe in the South have been coming, and continue to come. When there is no other way to make sure the children have food, people cross in all the various ways available to them. I don't know how the connection works for sure, but I think it's not a coincidence that this latest wave of migration began with the signing of the North American Fair Trade Act (NAFTA). It has affected some parts of our economy more than others, and although the claim is that undocumented migrants are merely taking jobs that "legal" Americans won't do, the truth is that they will work for much lower wages and tolerate much more difficult working conditions. If not for undocumented people afraid to make a fuss, some industries -- vegetable harvesting, meat processing -- might have to offer decent wages and working conditions. The situation is far from simple.