Migrant Policy with Ed McCullough

Waking up at 5 a.m. and returning home at around 3 in the afternoon, I spent the better part Sunday, Sep. 28 on a humanitarian effort with retired UA Geology professor Ed McCullough. Accompanied by a fellow classmate, Osama Naser, we drove down to a heavy migrant travel area about five miles north of the U.S. - Mexico border. The group that McCullough is a part of, No More Deaths, tracks migrant trails so that they can map these routes in an effort to aide them in their long journey. Volunteers from No More Deaths provide Hispanic migrants with water, food and medical relief.

Osama and I will detail our experience in a story to appear on BorderBeat.net in the near future, but it is the political implication of the conversations that we had with McCullough that I wish to discuss in this blog entry.

On the hour-long dive from Tucson to various spots in the Coronado National Forest, McCullough explained the problems that migrants and his organization come into with the Border Patrol and other policies that the U.S. Government has set in place.

"The Border Patrol is constantly hurting our efforts, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly," said McCullough.

He explained that the Border Patrol's various attempts to curb illegal immigration have been set up by inhumane policies. "They (the Border Patrol) fly over groups of immigrants with their helicopters, causing them to scatter in every which direction; this really hurts their chances of survival," said McCullough.

Additionally, McCullough explained how the Border Patrol will often try to walk the same trails that the volunteers of No More Deaths do, sabotaging their work by slicing open water jugs and removing food.

Is this really an effective use of tax payer money? Almost everyone in this country agrees that illegal immigration is a problem, but agreeing on a solution has proven far more difficult. McCullough shot off some rather disturbing statistics. Over the past several years, where the Border Patrol has seen a large increase in their budget, there haven't been many positive results. Apprehensions are about the same as they have always been, while the number of illegal immigrants entering the country, as well as those who die in an attempt to do so, have both risen drastically. I wouldn't imagine that this was the intention of lawmakers when they decided to increase funding.

"Throwing money at a problem won't solve it," said McCullough. "You need to treat the cause of the problem, not the symptoms." Likening it to America's War on Drugs, McCullough feels that the U.S. government's attempts to solve a large issue by attacking it on a small scale and with misguided and inhumane tactics is bound to fail, and the numbers are in his favor. In fact, the Bush administration's immigration policies are so inhumane that the U.N. has found them in violation of international human right's laws, a violation that the administration rebukes and hides under the veil of national security.

My opinion on the issue is similar to that of McCullough's. We need to solve this problem by attacking it's cause rather than treating it's symptoms. Trying to stop immigrants from entering this country by making it easier for them to parish along their trip is disgusting. What's equally as disturbing is the claim that we can do whatever we want in the name of national security. How many times is that going to be used to justify illegal and unethical behavior?

Perhaps enforcing the already existing laws regarding hiring undocumented workers will serve as a better deterrent. According to McCullough, more than half of those caught trying to illegally enter our borders will keep trying until they are successful. If we give them no reason to keep trying, then we can save lives. Providing much less of an incentive for illegal immigrants to come here seeking work would prove far more effective and ethical in deterring their attempts to come here in the first place. That is an example of attempting to solve an issue through its cause.