Over the last few days I’ve been focused on how the Border Patrol attempts to criminalize humanitarian aid in the desert, and how law enforcement attempts to criminalize protests against the Border Patrol.
It’s not great.
But these retaliatory crackdowns on defiant citizens are not the core issue. The core issue is what these volunteers and protesters are combating: the inhumanity of America’s immigration system. How we try to keep people out of our country, regardless of what they’re fleeing. How we treat people who approach and cross our border, regardless of why they’re coming.
The core issue is how the U.S. criminalizes virtually all migration.
So, now that I’ve returned from my time in the Arizona borderlands and processed my personal brushes with Border Patrol and police, that’s where I’d like to refocus my attention—from how law enforcement treats aid workers and activists, to how law enforcement treats border crossers. Whether they attempt to secret themselves across miles of desert or knock at the gate to ask for asylum, what do they face when they get here?