Human Rights on the Border: A Debate on Undocumented Migration in Arizona

President Bush has called the unauthorized groups patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border "vigilantes." But California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger praised the so-called Minutemen and Texas Governor Rick Perry refused a proposal by Democratic state lawmakers to block the Minutemen from operating in that state.

Roughly 700,000 undocumented migrants enter the country annually and remain here. A recent RAND Corporation study found that immigrants to the United States inject about $10 billion a year into the economy. But the latest anti-immigrant backlash is latching onto the war on terrorism to renew a call for increased policing at the border.

Arizona Senator John McCain has supported limited amnesty for undocumented migrants already in the country in addition to increased border security. His bipartisan immigration reform bill would increase money for the border patrol. McCain spoke yesterday before the Senate.

* Sen. John McCain, (R - Arizona)

Legislators in the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, led by Colorado Republican Tom Tancredo, also raise the threat of terrorism as a justification for more security at the border. But they oppose any amnesty plan and Tancredo's opposition to any guest worker program puts him at odds with agribusiness and most of the Republican party. A growing strain of anti-immigrant sentiment on Capitol Hill uses cultural arguments against immigration that draw on previous measures like Proposition 187 in California, which would have denied basic services to undocumented residents, and English Only initiatives around the country.

Back on the border, the summer heat can be lethal to people trying to cross into the United States. An Arizona human rights group records the border deaths for May and June at 57 people.

Two aid workers were arrested on the Arizona border last weekend. Members of the Stop the Deaths Coalition were detained by border patrol agents while they were driving severely dehydrated migrants to a hospital. Daniel Strauss and Shanti Sellz were charged with obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting illegal immigrants in furtherance of their illegal residence in the country.

The question of who polices the U.S.-Mexico border has gained national attention through the activities of the Minutemen throughout the Southwest. Border Patrol officials in Arizona say the Minutemen and groups like them should not take on the role of professional law enforcement. There are dangers that the self-proclaimed patrols could trip sensors, disturb draglines and interfere with the normal operations of border control agents. Minutemen Jim Gilchrist says the group is "there to assist law enforcement."

In Yuma, Arizona, a group called the Yuma Patriots formed recently and now includes about forty people who patrol small sections of the border unarmed and call the Border Patrol when they site border crossers. Part of the border in Yuma is contained within the Cocopah Indian reservation and the Patriots initially attempted to operate within the reservation. The tribal council says it does not recognize the Yuma Patriots because they are not an authorized extension of the Border Patrol. Now the group engages in its activities outside the reservation boundaries.

* Michael Scherer, writer for Mother Jones magazine. He has an article in the July/August edition of on the Minutemen operating in Arizona and Tom Tancredo's immigration reform proposals in Washington.
* Shanti Sellz, member of No More Deaths, an aid group that provides medical help to migrants in the border zone. She was one of the two people arrested by the border patrol last weekend while transporting severely dehydrated border crossers to a hospital.
* Flash Sharrar, founder of the Yuma Patriots, an unofficial group patrolling the border for undocumented migrants.
* Jose Matus, Yaqui ceremonial leader and border rights activist with the Arizona Border Rights Project.

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