Ever deadlier borderlands

I have done pastoral and social work here in these Arizona-Sonora borderlands for 40 years now. Mostly it has been a great joy. But in recent years a terrible and deadly cloud has hung over this desert. Migrants have been dying a horrible death.

For decades U.S. business has openly invited countless migrants to cross the border to work here. It would be hard, perhaps impossible, to find a single citizen of this country who has not eaten food picked or prepared by these migrants, or slept in a hotel bed made up by these migrants, or lived under a roof built by these migrants. But over a dozen years ago the federal government began blocking the traditional border crossing points around border towns. In no time migrants began moving out into remote desert and mountain areas to cross into the US to look for work. And they began to die--mostly from agonizing dehydration in temperatures that can surpass 115 degrees Fahrenheit, but also from freezing in winter and overturned smuggler vehicles and drowning in canals. Just since last Oct.1 along Arizona's border with the Mexican state of Sonora, there have been at least 199 known migrant deaths. Anyone who knows this territory knows full well that the real number is much higher and many bodies will never be found. (One of the major migrant routes is the Tohono O'odham Nation west of Tucson; it alone is the size of Connecticut.)

These deaths are not just a tragedy. They are a crime. Decent, just, comprehensive legislation could turn the tables overnight. Instead we get congressional gridlock, pre-election posturing, and a strong dose of vigilantism, xenophobia and even racism. (Dig into the Southern Poverty Law Center's online documentation and you'll see what I mean--.

And now deportations are skyrocketing too. I just learned about two mothers, one in the U.S. 15 years and the other 13 years, being stopped at random and deported. Parents are being separated from their U.S.-born children. People like CNN's Lou Dobbs and Maricopa County's (Phoenix) sheriff Joe Arpaio are constantly fanning the flames.

The Iraq debacle and the attack on civil liberties and habeas corpus are not the only signs of government gone sick.