November, 2018. San Ysidro, California is now a war zone. San Ysidro is the main California border town that is one long spit away from Tijuana, Mexico. One can lob a tear gas canister from San Ysidro and hit a Mexican or a migrant on the other side; as the U.S. Border Patrol proved repeatedly last Sunday.
I live in San Diego County which is adjacent to the international border with Mexico. The migrant caravan is now in Tijuana banging on United States fences begging to enter. Our government has lined up thousands of army soldiers, border patrol agents,and miles of concertina wire to stop this “Invading horde.” This confrontation is a multifaceted nightmare — an international flashpoint, a continuous Trump harangue, and issues of regional economic development, drug fueled gang warfare, and police corruption. I am in San Diego watching this crisis unfold with shifting optics: This international crisis is local news to me. The confrontation between the U.S. Border Patrol/Army and the rag-tag caravan of Central Americans (plus some Mexicans, I am sure) is all taking place in my metropolitan backyard; the border crossing itself, surrounding United States neighborhoods; and Tijuana.
The extra dollop of personal pain comes from looking at aerial photos of the San Ysidro battle lines.(See Patel, Jugal and Griggs, Troy “Three Places Where Migrants Tried to Cross the Border, Facing Tear Gas and Barbed Wire,” New York Times, November. 26, 2018.)
I well know the streets on the United States side of the border. Plus, I have been to Tijuana innumerable times, which means I have crossed that border as part of fabric of daily life. In the drone photographs of the United States barricade position, I recognize the San Ysidro Outlet Mall, one of my favorite shopping spots in this area. This mall is right across the street from barricades of the U.S. Border Patrol next to the Tijuana river banks. A second border patrol barricades is very close by the huge, and locally famous, San Ysidro McDonalds. This franchise spot is literally steps away from the pedestrian exit gate from Mexico into the United States. Millions of border crossers (Mexican, Americans, and other nationalities) step into the United States and walk right into what is locally rumored to be the worlds largest McDonalds.
This crisis is happening neither “over there” in, for example, far-flung Kurdistan, or the rebellious province of East Jabip. No; this is happening in my extended backyard to people I care about. What is the consequences to American security if the caravan of 10,000 women, children, victims of violence, or just hard-working job seekers, all entered the United States? Nothing. If there were 10,000 caravan migrants — and that is an exaggerated large number — the effect of them crossing the border would be an would be an increase in our current population (325 million) by 00003%, approximately three hundred thousandth of 1%. If over time, ten of these “threatening caravans” entered the United States, (10,000 migrants strong times ten would equal 100,000 new immigrants); then the American population would swell by three ten thousandths of 1%. Plus, the migrants have struggled long and hard to flee violence and seek a better life. These are the folks who were so determined that they walked or hitchhiked 3,000 miles. We need immigrants and I want them in my country: they will work hard; help build the U.S. economy; and make America a better place.
Trump, of course, sees the caravan as a threat to U.S. sovereignty and security. He fears their presence so much that he says he will the order the Border Patrol to shoot the migrants if they as much as throw a rock. If they are throwing rocks at soldiers, it is out of the frustration in the face of United States indifference or hostility, and sheer desperation that the soldiers will not let them into America The migrants need our help, not our bullets. The administration demonstrated that it will carry out its other extreme threat to shut down the U.S./Mexican Border, if needed. In fact, the Western world’s busiest border, – San Diego (San Ysidro) and Tijuana — was shut down for half a day on Sunday, November 26th.
According to nationalist zealots, the asylum and job seekers from south of our border are a direct threat to American democracy. In fact, we have mobilized the U.S. Army to battle this enemy. Meanwhile when Russia, (and apparently China) directly hacks into our voting machine databases, invades our electoral system, undertakes a concerted campaign to dislocate and disrupt our national electronic — all of that is a secondary or ephemeral problem. This foreign electoral interference may not be a problem at all. Our President believes Putin when he says “Nyet” (no) and nixes the idea that Russia has interfered with U.S. elections. (See, for example, See, for example, n.a. “Trump Buys Putin’s “Strong and Powerful Denial” of Election Hacking”
BusinessDay July 16, 2018.)
We live in a topsy turvy world. According to our President, and other shrill ultra-conservative voices, the main threat to United States comes from a small number of earnest, desperate immigrants. Meanwhile, countries who have vowed to destroy our way of life get a free pass when they clearly try to interfere with our elections and disrupt our democracy. Overall, this would be great political theater, if it was not so tragic. However, when pathos moves to bathos, we must all, in our own way, take corrective steps to protect our true democratic interests.
Zephyr Carlyle is an attorney and teacher in San Diego County, California