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Nogales
Mexico
In order to truly understand the immigration issues that our country is facing in this current time we must research beyond the classroom and experience the matter fist hand. In the month of March our Culture and Migration class had the great opportunity to experience the city of Nogales and get first hand knowledge of immigration issues, the lifestyle of citizens of Nogales and their culture. This trip opened my eyes to what really is going on with immigration.
One way that this trip opened my eyes was when we first arrived at the Border Links Office. There, we were able to partake of good lecture and discussion. One of the members of the Dynamic team sat and discussed with us about what Border Links does and is about. Border Links seems like a very motivated organization that is there through thick and thin for the cause in which they stand for. BorderLinks is a bi-national non-profit organization that offers information concerning the border and focusing on the issues of global economics, militarization, immigration, and popular resistance to oppression and violence. They seem to feel that with all of these issues currently out in the pubic eye as well as affecting the decisions of our government that it is imperative that we the people witness first hand the reality of the affects of our policies and lifestyles. She later on shared with us some of her experiences helping migrants in the dessert. Usually it is unknown of how long a migrant has been out in the hot dessert so border links has came up with a packet that consists of water food and medical items. When they encounter someone in the dessert they are able to assist them and reassure them that they are not Border Patrol there to take them back to Mexico. What really caught my attention were the photos she shared with the class. Photos the clearly portrayed what a journey from Mexico to the U.S. entails. It is not just a walk in the park but a long strenuous journey that could either lead to being under the custody of Border Patrol or even death.
Another highlight of our trip was when we went to the supermarket to play our pricing game. This game was made to compare American prices with prices in Mexico using pesos. When you look at what a Mexican labor worker makes and compare it to the litany of purchase one must make in order to live and keep their family afloat, they do not make enough money to be able to get all they need to survive. They also might have to sacrifice certain things in order to get by. For example one might have to sacrifice paying the electric bill in order to have enough money for food and gas. Certain things that we as American’s/ Canadians take for granted are necessities that some of the people of Mexico struggle to keep. An article by Jose Palafax titled “Arizona Ranchers Hunt Mexicans” brings points that are applicable, but there ideas and ways of dealing with the migrant issues are ways that are least likely to happen. It is understood that farmers work very hard for what they produce for the open market. It is understood that it can be frustrating when you have unknown visitors running in your fields or steeling and eating your stock. However going out in a group and hunting down migrants, and killing them is NOT THE SOLUTION! As Renato Rosaldo describes the border in his article “Cultural Citizenship, Inequality and Multiculturalism,” that the border has become theater, and the border theater has become social violence. Actual violence has become inseparable from symbolic ritual on the border……”A human destroying another human’s life is not the answer. No one has any right to take a life. As we can take from our Pricing Game, these are people that are struggling to make a “good days” pay in order to upkeep the family household that they so value and is number one priority within their culture. They see across the border as an opportunity for a better life. All they want is to seek out a better life for them selves, not really to hurt or harm anyone. How dear that Ranchers think they have the never to take this issue into there own hands that are filled with the blood of migrants that they have taken the lives of.
This trip has defiantly been an eye opener for me to learn of the reality of a subject that affects our lives, our friends, and even our own family members. BorderLinks does a great and quite dynamic job of portraying to people first hand on what is “really’ going on with our borders. The issue of migration is something that may never be solved as people hope for it to be. The more laws and policies we put up in defense instead of facing the reality of this issue results in more run around debating, more protests, more violence, more dreams lost and more lives destroyed. However we need to also understand that not every Mexican wishes to come to the U.S. due to the fact that some are quite happy with their current surroundings (Mexico).
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