Published: April 16, 2008 03:10 pm         

LION AND THE LAMB: The border is a Third World country

Immigration is a complex problem. As this issue rose and fell into nothingness in the wake of the presidential primaries, items like minutemen, sanctuary cities and anchor babies got buried by the larger topic of a "border out of control." Wanting to understand, I got more than I bargained for. This is what I learned.

The administrations of the 40th and the 41st presidents, with the assistance of the U.S. State Department, the Justice Department and its INS Operations, turned the borders of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana into a third world country.

Illegal immigration was nothing more than the flow of "refugees" from El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras. Civil wars existed in El Salvador and Guatemala. Nicaragua was involved in a war sponsored by the United States, and it would eventually touch Honduras.

The flow of refugees came from all four countries. How did it get this way? Early in his first term, the 40th president, Ronald Reagan, declared El Salvador to be a textbook case in the ability of the United States to withstand Soviet aggression. The U.S. was about to bring "democracy" to El Salvador. This would destabilize all of Central America.

Undocumented immigration was promoted by the INS. Nicaraguans were encouraged to settle in the U.S. They would be issued work permits and protected from deportation. Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees were to be imprisoned, denied asylum and deported. These are facts conceded by the U.S. Justice Department in a 1990 Court Settlement.

On the U.S. border, the sale of humans became a multimillion dollar business. Alien smugglers preyed upon unsuspecting "OTM’s" — individuals Other-than- Mexican." With the assistance of the local Mexican police, OTM’s from the war-torn countries of Central America were fleeced of money, valuables and travel documents. Additional monies were sought to pass these refugees across the border.

Life would be no different on the American side. INS controls one of the largest prison systems in the United States. These prisons are called "service and processing centers" and are located in California, Arizona, Texas and Louisiana.

Regardless of location, the treatment is always the same. Any money, valuables or travel documents refugees were able to retain were confiscated by the INS. Refugees were beaten, raped, robbed, thrown into solitary confinement, denied hearings, tortured and given no explanation of charges. They were provided little access to legal representation. Information collected was shared with other law enforcement agencies.

Between the years 1980 and 1990, INS, unable to manage this system, privatized Laredo, TX, and Oakdale, LA. Nothing changed. The Border Patrol captured. INS imprisoned and the Correction Corporation of America ran the detention centers. Churches provided sanctuary when able and Washington D.C. played dumb regarding the entire issue.

This decade, 1980 to 1990, was "refugee" migration. It was not "illegal" immigration. The lies, the atrocities and the cover ups were nothing more than a "social" experiment. In doing so, the INS violated neutrality agreements, the Geneva convention and its own rules regarding refugees.

Some say, "Yes, but at least there were regulations and rules." Sorry, no standards or regulations were included in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, the Refugee Act of 1980, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1987, nor the Immigration Act of 1990. Remember, Congress legislates, the Agencies regulate. Congress rarely looks back at the mess they create.

Whether or not the impacts of illegal immigration are on the balance negative, the fear of immigrants is useful to politicians. Morison and Commager in their historic work The Growth of the American Republic, had this to say about fear. "Fear, the worst of political counselors, has come to supercede thought." A statement as correct today as was in their judgment of the 1860's.

Our 40th and 41st presidents opened the border. When they left office, no one closed the door.

Blaming social and economic problems on undocumented immigrants may be convenient, but it doesn’t solve the problems. Like it or not, these things happened and are still happening today.

More information and additional reading is available in Robert S. Kahn’s book, Other People’s Blood, U.S. Immigration Prisons during the Reagan Decade, Westview Press, Harper Collins, 1996. The 1990 court case can be found under: American Baptist Churches et.al. v U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, INS Commissioner Gene McNary and Secretary of State James Baker III, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.

This column is sponsored by Cumberland Countians for Peace and Justice, an organization composed of representatives from various churches in the area, and dedicated by the local writers to the theme that the lion and the lamb can and must learn to live together and grow in their relationship toward one another to ensure a better world. Opinions expressed in “Lion and the Lamb” columns are not necessarily those of the Crossville Chronicle publisher, editor or staff. For more information, contact Emerson Abts, editor, at 277-5101.