{"id":610,"date":"2010-05-26T15:13:56","date_gmt":"2010-05-26T20:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bnhr.org\/?p=610"},"modified":"2010-05-26T15:13:56","modified_gmt":"2010-05-26T20:13:56","slug":"statement-re-national-guard-on-the-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bnhr.org\/statement-re-national-guard-on-the-border\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement, re: National Guard on the Border"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>To President Barack Obama<\/p>\n<p>The White House<\/p>\n<p>1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW<\/p>\n<p>Washington, DC 20500<\/p>\n<p>To Members of the U.S. Congress<\/p>\n<p>Washington, DC<\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Border residents oppose calls for deployment of the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Border communities who had hoped for a rational and accountable border policy from the Obama Administration are deeply disappointed\u00c2\u00a0at the news of the authorization to deploy National Guard troops to the border. We are also deeply disappointed by calls from Congress to deploy as many as 6,000 National Guard troops to the border.<\/p>\n<p>Proposals to deploy the National Guard are ill-conceived and motivated by electoral politics rather than border realities. In the course of history, presidents have rarely called up the National Guard. Deployment of these forces has almost always been limited to emergency situations and for good reason. The creation of a national police force is anathema to our fundamental values and to the protection of individual liberties.<\/p>\n<p>As men and women living in the border region, which includes metropolitan areas as well as small towns, we have tried time and again to share our concerns about the militarization of the region with members of the Administration and members of Congress. But it seems we are not being heard and the policies of this Administration, far from being the change that we were promised, mirror the policies of the prior Administration and may even be worse with respect to border enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>To be clear, there is no emergency at the border that would warrant the deployment of the National Guard. Immigration flows are down and border cities are among the safest in the country. Violent crime is rare and when it does happen, as in the case of the Arizona rancher who was recently killed, the perpetrator is more likely to be a citizen than an immigrant. The only \u00e2\u20ac\u0153emergency\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is the political emergency of upcoming elections.<\/p>\n<p>As residents of the border region, we refuse to allow our communities and our quality of life to be sacrificed in a political game played far away from this region by people with little appreciation for the vibrancy of the region and who are motivated by politics rather than actual border needs. We consider the deployment of the National Guard an affront to border communities and oppose the militarization of our region based on the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The militarization      of our border has already reached an extreme level and brought with it<\/strong> <strong>negative consequences<\/strong> <strong>for those who live there.<\/strong> Our economies are choked by inefficient border crossings, our civil rights      are pushed aside, and our quality of life is seriously diminished. Worse,      our safety is being sacrificed by those who believe that soldiers trained      for war belong near family neighborhoods or should be involved      in supporting      domestic law enforcement. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not forget      that in 1997, U.S. Marines sent to help secure the border, mistakenly shot      and killed a teenage U.S. citizen who was peacefully herding goats.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Militarization is a      misguided and unnecessary response that is not based in reality or in the      opinions of President Obama\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own border experts.<\/strong> Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said      repeatedly that her Border Patrol agents have operational control of the      border.\u00c2\u00a0 Crime statistics in border cities and counties show that      crime is both low and decreasing. Yet, we are being told once again that      we must secure the border, just three years after we built a border wall,      added thousands of new Border Patrol agents and deployed virtual      enforcement technology.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Militarization      costs us all<\/strong>. Continuing to      throw money, resources and military responses at the border is not      fiscally responsible, efficient, or humane. The ever mounting costs of      militarizing the border are costs borne by taxpayers who can ill afford      ineffective and ill-conceived political responses.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Recourse to the military as a policy option for civilian law      enforcement is a disturbing precedent.<\/strong> Forces trained for combat, should not be used for enforcing      civil laws. As a matter of fundamental U.S. political values, the military      should be withdrawn from all normal law enforcement activities, even in      supporting roles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is time to rethink our border policy.\u00c2\u00a0 Increasing the <strong><em>quantity <\/em><\/strong>of armed agents and soldiers on our southern border does not enhance our national security, but in fact undermines it by misallocating resources. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Humane border policies should emphasize <strong><em>quality<\/em><\/strong> law enforcement, and the effective focus of resources on real threats in the region, while ensuring that border communities are consulted on their specific needs, and that the rights and well-being of border residents are protected and upheld. In this light, we need the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Consultation with      local border communities on a regular basis about border enforcement;      decisions about the border should not be made in a vacuum in D.C.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>More accountability      and oversight of immigration enforcement officers, who have become the      largest law enforcement presence in the border region.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A      standardized complaint process that aggregates complaints the length of      the border\u00c2\u00a0should be implemented\u00c2\u00a0to better understand potential      abuse of power and civil and human rights      violations.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Enforcement agencies should\u00c2\u00a0publicize this      data and then use\u00c2\u00a0appropriate performance measures      to\u00c2\u00a0correct\u00c2\u00a0gaps in current or ongoing training.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Increased      funding for ports of entry to facilitate the flow of legitimate goods and      people authorized to work, visit or contribute to the nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s economy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Compliance      with environmental protection laws without exceptions for the border; we      deserve the same protections as the rest of the country.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Compliance      with national and international civil and human rights protections, and      creation of humane detention and short-term custody standards at the      border.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A      zero-migrant-death standard that is incorporated into enforcement policies      and practices and addresses the mounting death toll\u00e2\u20ac\u201dover 5,000\u00e2\u20ac\u201dof migrants      who lose their lives as a result of inhumane enforcement strategies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Comprehensive      immigration reform that moves beyond\u00c2\u00a0enforcement and focuses      on\u00c2\u00a0fixing the interconnected parts of our broken immigration system.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Economic      development for Mexico, our second largest trading partner and primary      source of immigration; a stronger Mexican economy would benefit both      countries economically and ease migration pressures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The federal government is as responsible for protecting the lives and well being of border residents as it is of protecting residents of the interior of the United States. Unfortunately, border residents have borne the burden of national security under the current hard-line strategy, but can do so no more. We oppose the deployment of the National Guard to the border as a misguided political response, and we urge our national leaders to pursue real solutions to border enforcement that take into account the needs of the border region.<\/p>\n<p><em>Signed: <\/em><\/p>\n<p>American Friends Service Committee (CA)<\/p>\n<p>San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium (CA)<\/p>\n<p>San Diego Foundation for Change (CA)<\/p>\n<p>Border Action Network (AZ)<\/p>\n<p>First Christian Church of Tucson (AZ)<\/p>\n<p>ACLU Regional Center for Border Rights (NM)<\/p>\n<p>Border Network for Human Rights (TX)<\/p>\n<p>Immigrant Justice Alliance (TX)<\/p>\n<p>Freedom Ambassadors (TX)<\/p>\n<p>Casa de Proyecto Libertad (TX)<\/p>\n<p>Project Puente (TX)<\/p>\n<p>U.S.-Mexico Border and Immigration Task Force<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 To Members of the U.S. Congress Washington, DC Border residents oppose calls for deployment of the National Guard to the&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bnhr.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bnhr.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bnhr.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bnhr.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bnhr.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bnhr.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bnhr.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bnhr.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bnhr.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}