[[link removed]]

REPUBLICANS’ NEW BORDER TARGET: MIGRANT AID GROUPS  
[[link removed]]


 

Miriam Davidson
March 28, 2024
The Progressive
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Criminalizing the groups providing humanitarian aid at the border
won't solve our immigration crisis. But providing them funding might
help. _

A participant holds a sign in support of humanitarian aid for
migrants at a "Border Encuentro" in Nogales, Arizona, November 2017.,
(Peg Hunter (CC BY-NC 2.0)

 

Rightwing border-bashing is reaching a fever pitch. Conservative
politicians and media outlets have gone beyond condemning all migrants
and refugees as criminals and invaders. They’re now accusing even
migrant aid organizations of working with cartels to facilitate sex
trafficking and drug smuggling.

On January 17, right-wing activist James O’Keefe posted
[[link removed]] a
video he filmed of a migrant shelter operated by Casa Alitas in
Tucson, Arizona, which he claimed was a “secret” facility that
“none of the American people knew about until now.” After Elon
Musk commented on it twice, the video was viewed nearly three million
times on X. 

On February 14, Representative Tom Tiffany, Republican from
Wisconsin, tried to gain access
[[link removed]] to
the Casa Alitas shelter. Employees had to call 911 to have him removed
from the property. Tiffany then accused Casa Alitas and the
humanitarian aid group Tucson Samaritans of “aiding illegals” and
called for them to be investigated by Congress and the Department of
Justice. A Fox News crew was also subsequently turned away
[[link removed]] from
what it called
[[link removed]] a
“secret hotel” where migrants were housed by Casa Alitas.

On February 20, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued
[[link removed]] El
Paso-based migrant shelter Annunciation House for refusing to turn
over documents relating to its operations. Paxton accused the shelter
of “astonishing horrors,” including “facilitating illegal entry
to the United States, alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating
a stash house.” While a Texas judge has since ruled
[[link removed]] in
favor of Annunciation House, shelter director Ruben Garcia said
[[link removed]] the
suit has caused some volunteers to quit out of fear they could be
targeted by the government. 

Volunteers and staff at Casa Alitas in Tucson fear for their safety as
well, and security at the shelter has been increased, according to
[[link removed]] Pima
County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva. Migrant aid workers who help
people in the desert and at the border fence say they also have been
subject to increasing threats from armed, anti-immigrant vigilantes. 

“What’s frightening about them [vigilantes] is they carry guns; we
carry water,” Gail Kocourek, a volunteer with the Tucson
Samaritans, told
[[link removed]] Tucson.com. 

“These kinds of attacks should alarm all of us,” Tucson-based
immigration attorney and human rights activist Isabel Garcia said at a
panel discussion at the University of Arizona on February 27.
“Catholic Social Services [which operates Casa Alitas] is not a
radical group.” 

Adding to the concern, federal funding for Casa Alitas is facing a 20
percent budget cut under the just-approved Congressional budget deal.
Casa Alitas Director Diego Piña Lopez says the cut will result in a
reduction of staff and services and that street releases of migrants,
which are already happening in San Diego
[[link removed]] and
other cities, are expected
[[link removed]] to
begin in Tucson in April.  

Senators Mark Kelly, Arizona Democrat, and Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona
Independent, among other state politicians and community leaders,
are calling for
[[link removed]] additional
shelter funding. They contend that helping migrants get access to
food, shelter, medical care and transportation is a federal
responsibility and a matter of public health and safety—not to
mention human decency—that will save money and benefit society in
the long run. 

Advocates are demanding a stronger defense of vulnerable migrant
populations. Garcia has co-founded an organization called Stop the
Hate Collective [[link removed]] to focus on
this issue. 

Arizona business and political leaders are also pushing for
[[link removed]] also
increased staffing and improved technology at the ports of entry. They
say this would allow inspectors to stop more fentanyl from entering
the country, most of which is smuggled in through the ports. It would
also help stop the smuggling
[[link removed]] of
guns into Mexico, a major source of violence south of the border
that’s causing people to flee to the United States. 

Demonizing migrants, building taller walls, putting up dangerous
[[link removed]] razor
wire, calling for unrealistic mass deportations, and bussing migrants
to cities unprepared to meet them or forcing them to remain in Mexico
in unsafe circumstances—38 died
[[link removed]] in
a migrant shelter fire in Ciudad Juarez last March, while in recent
years thousands have been kidnapped
[[link removed]],
raped, murdered, drowned
[[link removed]] or died
[[link removed]] in
the desert—will not make America safer. 

The only way to make America safer is to provide enough funding so
migrants and refugees can be adequately vetted, cared for, and
resettled in communities that want and need their labor.

_This column was produced for Progressive Perspectives, a project
of _The Progressive_ magazine, and distributed by Tribune News
Service._

_Miriam Davidson is author of The Beloved Border: Humanity and Hope in
a Contested Land (University of Arizona Press, 2021)._

_Since 1909, The Progressive has aimed to amplify voices of dissent
and those under-represented in the mainstream, with a goal of
championing grassroots progressive politics. Our bedrock values are
nonviolence and freedom of speech._

_Based in Madison, Wisconsin, we publish on national politics,
culture, and events including U.S. foreign policy; we also focus on
issues of particular importance to the heartland. Two flagship
projects of The Progressive include Public School Shakedown
[[link removed]], which covers efforts
to resist the privatization of public education, and The Progressive
Media Project [[link removed]], aiming to diversify our
nation’s op-ed pages. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. _

* immigrant rights
[[link removed]]
* border wall
[[link removed]]
* refugees
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]