One_liners

_SBCC co-chair Andrea Guerrero urged Congress not to “be engaged in a ‘Hunger Games’-like debate” in a story about the Senate’s failed attempt to pass a permanent fix to protect young immigrants this week.

_In literally a sign of the times, SBCC steering committee member Pedro Rios, from the American Friends Service Committee’s U.S./Mexico Border Program in San Diego, was quoted in a story about the last iconic border crossing caution sign that has now vanished.

_ An op-ed written by yours truly urges senators to vote against any bill that allots $25 billion for Trump’s vanity wall, and to support the much more reasonable, data-driven McCain-Coons proposal.

_Here is some illuminating reading about how Border Patrol’s warrantless searches infringe on our freedom.

Must_reads

_Trump’s vanity wall jeopardizes Dreamers. While border communities sighed in relief when Senate immigration proposals that contained draconian border militarization and an attempt to shred family-based migration failed, we were also saddened that a permanent solution for young immigrants was not found. But, rest assured, we’re going to keep on fighting until Dreamers and their families are safe.

_$25B wall despot. In short, Trump sabotaged the success of a legislative solution by trying to coerce senators to create a bill that reflected his over-the-top demands and then declaring that he would veto any bill that didn’t do this. But, he had to have known that it would not work to pit Dreamers against their own families, that 6 out of 10 Americans do not support a border wall (much less spending $25 billion on it) and that 8 out of 10 Americans want a permanent solution for Dreamers with a path to citizenship. The lesson learned should be that the only way forward is to pass the bipartisan Dream Act.

_A big shout-out to our border champions. As noted in our statement, we want to especially thank border Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Tom Udall (D-NM) for rejecting the $25 billion ransom and the extremist agenda of the Trump administration, which threatened to condemn another generation of border residents to live under the boot of militarization.

_Watering things down. So...during an oversight hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, “The Costs of Denying Border Patrol Access: Our Environment and Security,” Brandon Judd, President of the National Border Patrol Council made an incredulous statement. When asked why Border Patrol agents pour out water left out for border crossers by humanitarian groups, like No More Deaths and La Coalición de Derechos Humanos, he said, “If that water heats up in the desert, it’s actually a lot more dangerous to drink extremely heated water than what it is if you don’t have that water at all. So what our agents are doing is they’re actually taking a humanitarian effort to save these individuals.” Wow, really? Then, why wouldn’t the agency just say that, instead of saying here and here that it was highly unusual and not condoned for agents to do this. We’ll just leave it there.

_“What do jaguars and private prisons have in common?” If you’re in the neighborhood of Las Cruces, NM, find out the answer to this question by making time to go to a panel discussion, “The Physical and Metaphorical Border Wall: How Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border Harms Our Communities, Wildlife and Environment." Featured speakers will be SBCC steering committee members Cynthia Pompa, ACLU Regional Center for Border Rights and Johana Bencomo, CAFé, and ally Kevin Bixby from South West Environmental Center (SWEC). More info here.

_No call to action this week. We don’t know about you, but we were super steeped in actions all week, so we’re giving ourselves a brief time for self-care and reflection. We encourage you to do the same.

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border_lines is published every Friday for your reading pleasure. If you’d like to submit an item for inclusion, please email Vicki B. Gaubeca at [email protected], by Wednesday COB.

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