Thread: Border Patrol Assaults the Gulf Coast, Minutemen Terrorize

http://rwor.org/a/016/border-patrol-assaults.htm

Border Patrol Assaults the Gulf Coast, Minutemen Terrorize the Border
by Travis Morales

Revolution #016, October 2, 2005, posted at revcom.us

In the United States of America, 2005, the fascist brown shirts are on the march. In the wake of mass murder at the hands of the Bush regime in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the racist anti-immigrant vigilantes of the Minuteman Project are mobilizing with guns at the U.S.-Mexico border to hunt immigrants. They say they're acting in response to the Homeland Security Department's decision to temporarily shift some Border Patrol agents to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina--which, they claim, "leaves our country vulnerable to increased trafficking by illegal aliens and terrorists attempting to enter the United States." Translated from reactionary double-speak, this means: "We have an opportunity to hunt down desperate and starving people who are being driven from their home countries across the border in order to survive--so let's go for it. And while we are at it, let's whip up some anti-immigrant hysteria."

And just why is the U.S. government sending the Border Patrol to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast? "Recovery efforts," my ass. Thousands of immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean worked for low wages in the fancy restaurants, hotels and casinos of New Orleans and Mississippi that have been destroyed. They are no longer needed. The Border Patrol is carrying out the official hunting and deportation of immigrants whose lives have been devastated by both Katrina and the criminal negligence of the Bush regime--while the Minutemen are carrying out the unofficial hunting down of immigrants at the border

And let's be clear, the Minutemen are not so unofficial. For several years, while publicly distancing themselves, the Border Patrol cooperated with the reactionary Barnett brothers--the forerunners of the Minutemen--ranchers who hunt and detain immigrants at gun point before turning them over to the Border Patrol. While the Bush administration hypocritically warns against vigilantism, they have done nothing to stop the Minutemen.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican governor of California, invited the Minutemen to patrol the border with Mexico. He said,

"I think they've done a terrific job... They've cut down the crossing of illegal immigrants a huge percentage. So it just shows that it works when you go and make an effort and when you work hard. It's a doable thing."

And in a step to move the Minutemen from unofficial to official fascist brown shirts, U.S. Rep. John Culberson, a Texas Republican, is pushing legislation to create a citizen border patrol whose members would be deputized to make arrests and authorized to carry guns. He said, "We need more manpower on the border."

All of this comes at a time when the Minutemen are expanding their efforts to organize armed patrols in urban areas such as Houston, Chicago, Fort Worth, El Paso, southern California, and many others. In mid-October, they are holding an "America First" Summit on National Security in Chicago.

These moves to expand and organize Nazi-style attacks on immigrants have sparked outrage, opposition, and resistance. On July 1, 40,000 people, mainly immigrant Mexicanos, marched through streets of Chicago to oppose the Minutemen and the government's immigration policy. At the border in southern California, people have confronted and disrupted Minutemen patrols. In numerous cities, people are organizing to confront them.

It's like I said when I spoke at a September 17 anti-Minutemen rally on the steps of the Texas State Capitol in Austin:

"This country has absolutely NO right to talk about anyone violating its borders and stealing its resources. It is total hypocrisy. This country has a whole bloody history of violating borders all over the world and plundering resources. They stole half of Mexico's land in a war of conquest and exterminated the Native Americans so they could kidnap Black people from Africa and bring them to Texas in chains as slaves. They have gone all over the world invading and conquering and plundering. Some people say that is old history--but it is present day reality. They are killing tens of thousands in Iraq. The Bush regime is committing mass murder of Black people by criminal negligence in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. And they are killing thousands at the border. It IS true: The World Can't Wait. Drive Out the Bush Regime!"


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