Inspiration from the Borderlands: Learning from a Border Patrol Agent, and a Former Coyote...

We heard from border patrol agent, Jared Allred, who patiently answered our many questions while taking us on an informative tour of the Border Patrol Headquarters in Douglass, Arizona, where the BP employs hundreds of agents. He explained how principles of honor and integrity guide his work, and how his job is to enforce and uphold the law, whether he agrees with it or not. We later learned from John Fife, one of the founders of the Sanctuary Movement, that police and soldiers have a legal obligation (through international laws in place since WWII) to disobey authority or the law if it interferes with basic human rights.  However, if I imagine myself in the border patrol's shoes, resisting authority and a border policy that is supported by many U.S. officials would not be an easy task.  Agent Allred said several times he knows that a lot of immigrants migrate out of economic necessity. He explained that migrants who cross are in huge danger and risk, because coyotes who guide them through the desert are often also smuggling drugs, and many care more about money than the people they are guiding. By enforcing border patrol he said he is helping deter migrants from taking that potentially deadly journey. When asked what message he wants to share, he said, "A lot of people think that border patrol agents are against immigration, but that is not true. We are only against illegal immigration." While many (including myself) may want to pit the border patrol agents as the "bad guys" in this situation, it is just not that simple. Border Patrol agents also can be credited with saving lives of some who may have died in the desert. However, there have also been many human rights abuses commited by the border patrol.  Learning from a human being puts a different perspective on the issues and has made me reflect on the importance of creating humane systems.  Learn more about this complex, growing organization on their website:
http://www.cbp.gov/
We also listened to Pastor Mark Addams, who is one of the leaders of Fronteras de Cristo, or Frontiers of Christ, who you can also look up online http://www.fronteradecristo.org/. He explained the link between the border patrol and coyotes (people who lead and organize groups of migrants through the desert). During the 150 years before the border patrol, seasonal migrants would simply cross, and there was an unspoken recognition that migrant labor was part of U.S. economy. As border patrol and border security has gotten more complex, so have the coyote's human smuggling techniques. Coyotes now take more and more extreme measures to keep their human smuggling business going, and migrants pay coyotes thousands of dollars each to guide them across the most dangerous parts of the desert.
Again, it would be easier if we could say that the coyotes are the bad guys in this whole situation. Yet, on our trip, our group met a former coyote, who was an animated storyteller, a friendly man who shared his experiences openly with us. We spent an afternoon with 3 guys (whose names I'll leave anonymous) who are part of CRREDA, an organization of recovering alcoholics and drug addicts in Agua Prieta, Mexico. These men do a variety of community service projects as they recover from addiction with the support of the CRREDA community. We participated in one of these projects with them: filling water tanks on the Mexican side of the border, very near to the border fence. We walked over sandy and rocky paths, winding through all types of thorny shrubs, and arrived at the high wall, where we peered through rusty metal poles to see desert stretching out in an unknown hilly expanse. We watched as border patrol trucks rumbled by and then camped out on the hill, waiting out in the open to deter or detain immigrants.  While there, I wondered about dear immigrant friends I had met in the U.S. and gave thanks they had survived. Had any of them crossed here?