Humanity

So I haven't written in a while. I had a completely eye-opening and intense experience at the end of Spring Break. I haven't been able to articulate it well with friends and I haven't known what to write, I doubt I will do the experience justice. But let's try by starting at the beginning...

My Expeditionary Learning class traveled down to Tucson with North Point's (a local high school) 10th grade class to be immersed in their expedition called "Complexity, Compassion, and Fear." My class was there to observe what an expedition might look like and to facilitate some lessons with the sophomores. Though these were our goals and though they were accomplished I feel that I gained way more learning outside of this context.

The first day we drove the 4-5ish hours to Tucson. The conversation was good, the van ride went rather quickly and before I knew it we were there. Our first stop was to watch a play called, "Our Dad is in Atlantis". The play was about two boys from Mexico who've lost their mother early on in life and their father travels to Atlanta to find work. When their father leaves the boys live with their grouchy and strict Grandmother but eventually adapt to this way of life. As soon as the boys seem to be settled and enjoying school their Grandmother unexpectedly dies and they end up working for their Aunt and Uncle. Eventually the boys decide to run away and find their father in the states. Along the journey they discuss how great life will be in the U.S. and their dreams, hopes, desires, etc. The play concludes with the two boys walking through the desert at night when one of them dies from the harshness of the journey. My first lesson of the trip- Children die looking for a better life and families everywhere are dislocated because of migration.

After the play we headed back to where we were staying, grabbed some dinner (mmm... Chipotle!), grocery shopped, and goofed around. Jokes, "that's what she said," and other college-aged conversations flew every where. It was a great and laughable night.

The next day, after a chilly wake-up, we headed to spend an entire day with Border Patrol. To be honest, I had no idea what I was in store for. I thought I knew what Border Patrol's job was and I was pretty sure I would disagree with the majority of what they had to say, but I went in expecting to be slightly bored and not all that interested. Wow, was I wrong.

First we were taken into the welcome room where proudly displayed was a picture of George W. Bush and Michael Cheroff. A bit out of touch with reality? When this was questioned, they said they'd get to it soon enough. Next we were each given a name tag with a bar code in it so that we may be tracked while on B.P.'s property- or so I was told. Creepy, much? We were then taken to a conference room so we could get an introduction to the ways in which border patrol worked. Our fearless leader of the day, the indescribable Jimmy Stout was introduced to us and so we began.

This is the one and only J. Stout- I'd say he's a mix between the most stereotypical description of a "good ole boy" from a little town in Texas (though I have no idea where he is from) and Larry the Cable Guy, but a bit more special too. By the way, he is one of three Chaplains employed by the Tucson sector of BP.

Let's move on-- I learned that Border Patrol (BP) was started as a military answer to stop illegal immigration in 1924. After 9/11 they became a part of the Homeland Security division of our government and to this day are seen as an "anti-terrorism" organization. Next, we got a introduction to the "terrifying" statistics of drug cartels/murder/rapist/pedophiles/thieves coming into the states illegally. Just so you know the percentage of people who fit into these categories is less that 2% combined. I don't want to dismiss that "bad guys" (a BP term) DO in fact come across the border illegally, but the way BP puts it you would think that every single Mexican or OTM (other than Mexican) fit this description. After being given these horrible stats we got an introduction to the weaponry that BP uses. They showed-off the pepper ball gun, the rifles, pistols, etc. Needless to say, I couldn't have cared less. A weapon, whether classified as lethal or "less lethal" (as BP labels them) is used against another human being, who by thew way, is usually only armed with a rock or stick. Also, we were given an introduction to some of the tools that BP uses to detect weapons, bombs, drugs, etc. This brought up the question of where BP gets their funding. The answer: our tax dollars. In this room were teachers who have to pay for their own copier paper, yet our government deems it necessary to equip thousands of border patrol agents with devices costing tens of thousands of dollars per item. Two of the items shown to us didn't even work! Disgusting. What else can be said about our "intro to border patrol" time? Well, the BP refers to any migrant coming across the border as "alien". I later found out that the legal term for the people crossing is "illegal alien". I don't know what more I can say about that.

The next thing that we did was get a guided tour of the facility. The first and most memorable stop was the "control room". We were taken into a round room that houses a few border patrol agents who are watching immigrants being "processed". We too got to see the immigrants. I had no idea what I was walking into and immediately lost my breath. I couldn't believe that this was a part of our tour. Basically outside of our round room was rooms of immigrants being held. They were separated by sex unless there were families with a person under the age of 18- these people were separated into the family room. During the time that we were there the immigrants were given a pack of crackers and juice boxes- usually their only food of the day. Some of the children were given "Happy Meals" too. Though legally BP can only keep people for 12 hours the guide we had said that some of them had been there 24 hours. Can you imagine 24 hours of sitting on concrete with no beds, no meals, and using an open toilet as your bathroom facility? Also, though each room had a quota of how many people could be in that given space, many were way beyond their capacity despite the fact that there were also at least three empty rooms. After looking at these people I could no longer stand to be in there so I left to get a breath of fresh air. To put it bluntly, it was the most inhumane thing I have ever seen in my life. I don't care where you stand on the immigration issue- this was embarrassing and despicable. These are human lives, not animals to be hunted (a BP term used in their job description).

Next we got a tour of the vehicles and other things that BP uses to hunt and capture (their words, not mine) the immigrants. Many of the smaller vehicles were unmarked. I questioned the legality of this in my mind but never got the chance to do so out loud. I could only imagine how terrifying it would be to be tiredly hiking through the desert with very little food or water only to come upon or be chased by an unmarked four wheeler and wonder if the person on it was a BP agent, everyday U.S. citizen, or worse of all, a vigilante.

After our tour we again met with J. Stout to discuss the schedule for the rest of the day. We would drive down to the "wall" and be given a bit of a tour there as well as stopping at an abandoned ranch at about the 1/2 point between Tucson and the wall.

Just to note: When we all piled into the van I was so angry at all the things that I had witnessed I made an ignorant comment. Thanks to the person(s) who challenged that. It gave me a chance to reflect where that anger was coming from. Until then I knew I was upset, but I had yet to recognize that as rage.

Moving on...

So on the way to the wall we stopped at this abandoned ranch in Tucson. I don't know why we stopped or what we had planned here because when we pulled up we were told that some agents had just detained 7 immigrants. I think that our initial plan was to wait until they had left and then continue with the tour. but it took forever so the class and I spent our time talking about what we had just seen and learned. We were instructed to not go near the BP truck or to take any pictures, but I really wanted a photo of the Wackenhut bus so ... did I listen?

Wackenhut is a private overseas company that BP hires to transport immigrants when they are caught and when they are deported. From what I understand it is basically the same set up as a Greyhound with the exception that it has a gate between the immigrants and the driver. I can't be for sure that this is the set-up because we weren't allowed to view the bus while at BP facilities. This bus (seen in the picture) travels to the BP agents who find immigrants so that BP agents aren't spending most of their day traveling to and from the headquarters. The bus basically hangs out all day waiting for the call. This means, if you are picked up by Border Patrol early in the day you could spend up to 8 or more hours sitting on the bus waiting for it to either fill or for the shifts to change.

After the long waiting period we headed to the wall. Just so you know there are many different versions of the wall along the border. Where we were it looked like this:

Many of the walls are constructed very differently, but all of the walls have a very little success rate. While we were there J. Stout said that they had seen a decrease of up to 10,000 less people crossing because of the wall but this totally contradicted an earlier figure of about 500 less (per year). The truth is, I doubt they really know. It is difficult to account for how many people cross and don't get caught. Also, while we were there 10 immigrants crossed a few miles down from us- proving again that this is merely a band aid over a much larger problem. If you needed any more proof- all you would have to do is closely examine the wall:

These are fingerprints proving that people climb and shimmy their way over. You could see the finger prints as well as shoe prints all the way to the top, and many were on the U.S. side. This, even admitted by BP, is just a 5-10 minute speed bump.

Where there is desperation, people will find a way.

After the wall our class drove back to find a quick dinner, and then help facilitate a discussion about the day's events with the 10th graders. I won't go into too many details about the discussion- 1) this post is way too long already 2) the opinions of some of the 10th graders would be a horrible representation of the day 3) by #2 you can tell I would not represent them fairly or unbiasedly

I don't know what else to type. I feel that this whole thing is rather choppy, but I needed a way to get out what I felt and saw. I strongly encourage you to learn more about the border. As the expedition was called it is truly a complex issue. I don't have any answers and couldn't begin to think of a solution, but I hope that by just seeing this is a step forward and that I always remember the humanity side of the issue.