Matthew Campanella: Revitalize Not Militarize Border Communities Matthew Campanella - LatinaLista
go to original November 22, 2013

Alongside the Interstate 8 freeway carved through the desert moonscape of the In-Ko-Pah mountain range, on the California side of the U.S.-Mexico border and just one hour east of downtown San Diego, is a dry creek bed dotted with thousands of fresh migrant footprints.

Their personal belongings are left behind on the trail in their days-long journey through the rugged international mountain range. Where the Interstate and trail meet, however, does not signify the end of the migrant journey. The creek bed trail passes beneath the freeway via three concrete and steel-reinforced tunnels, and this junction serves as both a place to find fresh drinking water at a water station left behind by the organization known as Water Stations, and as a hiding place where migrants wait to be transported into the interior of California past numerous Border Patrol checkpoints.

The migrants have entered into the only militarized zone in the United States, where U.S. taxpayers shell out $18 billion annually in the name of Homeland Security – more than the budgets of the FBI, ATF, DEA, Secret Service, and U.S. marshals combined.

Americans spend $43 million a year on drone flights alone, have built over 600 miles of fence that cost $16 million per mile, employ 21,000 Border Patrol agents or enough to have one agent for every 500-feet of the border, fly more military aircraft than the Australian air force, and have more Customs and Border Protection boats than the Russian navy.

All of this begs the question: Are we at war?

The militarization of the border apparently answers this question affirmatively. The U.S. is waging a war, but against whom?

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