Today on the border

Obviously we are not hearing much about immigration in this super-heated presidential race. There seems to be no room for talking about the senseless tragedy that has been taking place along our southern border for more than a dozen years.

Today is the last day of the federal fiscal year. So far we can document 149 migrant deaths just along the Arizona part of the 2000 mile border. Once we have the final coroner reports, that number will surely jump. It won't be as high as 2004-05 (282 deaths), 2005-06 (205 deaths) or 2006-07 (237 deaths), but it will be one more sign of governmental lunacy that refuses to open the way to a just and practical border policy.

Today I returned with three coworkers to the Centro de Apoyo al Migrante Deportado pictured here. (The words mean Support Center for the Deported Migrant.)


The center sits just a couple of blocks south of the Mariposa Gate where the buses of the mercenary Wackenhut Corporation deport a steady flow of Mexican migrants. Here three marvelous nuns and their volunteer friends feed and tend to 100-150 deported migrants morning and afternoon of each day.

The first thing that strikes you is the youth of most of the deportees -- hard working fellows (today we saw more women than last time) who have been sending money home to help their parents and families survive. They show up with almost nothing -- even their shoelaces have been taken away. Some are from as far away as the state of Chiapas, a 60-hour ride. Many of the older ones cannot return home because they sold whatever they had to come north. They are very likely to settle right in Nogales, already packed with over 200,000 residents in space never meant to contain a large city.

The situation is not just a tragedy. it is a truly mortal sin. I spoke with one woman who was deported three days ago. She has lived in the US for 23 years and is now cut off from her husband and four children. It is the kind of thing that happens all along the border day in and day out. But you can bet you're not going to hear about it on the political news hour. Not on your life. Not on any migrant's life.