Border Justice

Migrants, Justice, and the Border

            I attended “Metropolitan Borderlands:  Migrant Justice in Phoenix”, panel discussion.  This panel was made up of five people from local agencies that serve migrants in some way.  The panel people were:

·        Shiu Ming Cheer, Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project

·        Suzannah Maclay, Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project      

·        Salvador Reza, Maceheualli Work Center 

·        Rob, Phoenix Police Officer

·        Jose Cortez, Chicanos por la Causa

These people taught me some new facts and helped me realize what a problem immigration has become for everyone involved.  The main points I found interesting was what illegal immigrants face if they get caught by United States law enforcement.  I never really thought about young children coming from Central America to meet up with their families in the U.S.  These young children go through so much to get to our border, even jumping on top of freight trains, and sometimes they get caught and taken into a detention center.  Here their dreams and hopes end.  Sometimes after the illegal immigrants are captured they are sent to a detention center often without understanding what is going on.  In the detention center they are treated like hard core criminals and placed with sex offenders and murderers.  This is unfair to place innocent victims in to custody and that they have to endure such a harsh journey.

            I also learned more about human smuggling and kidnapping that occurs in getting illegal immigrants across the border by the Coyotes.  Illegal immigrants are subject to home invasions, homicide, and various forms of abuse because they are undocumented.  The problem is becoming worse and not better, our country needs to do something about this to prevent further deaths and crimes from occurring.