April 17, 2008

Activists to cross U.S.-Mexican borders | InsideNova.com

what are the odds that a coyote will lead them through the desert where they will expire?

Activists to cross U.S.-Mexican borders | InsideNova.com: "A group of four Virginia activists will travel to Mexico this week and cross back into the United States on Saturday without carrying government identification.

The action by The People United is designed to draw attention to what its organizers see as the base cause for illegal immigration.

'We want people to realize the larger structural reasons for people immigrating to the United States,' said Virginia Leavell, an organizer for the People United and member of Mexicans Without Borders. 'Immigration to the United States is the direct result of trade policies that the U.S. passes like the North American Free Trade Agreement.'

The People United statements say that NAFTA created 'vast disparities of wealth and power' between Mexico and the United States.

The group's decision to make the crossing just west of Nogales, Mexico, along immigrant trails, in an unpopulated area of the desert was influenced by the Prince William County illegal immigration resolution, said Leavell, who grew up on a farm outside of Charlottesville.

Organization members attended the 12-hour Prince William Board of County Supervisors meeting in October when the resolution was passed. About 200 people spoke at the meeting. The split between those who spoke in favor of the resolution and those who opposed it was abou"

It is unclear to me how crossing the border will reveal the deeper structural causes of inequality and migration, but maybe I am missing something.

also worth noting that for all of its terrible results on both sides of the border, NAFTA was something that the Mexicans passed alongside the US, not something imposed. I guess the gringos can think about that as they have the theme park experience of crossing the border just like a for-real wetback.

It isn't quite as impressive when gringos cross the border "without carrying government identification" when they know upon getting picked up they can just say "USA #1 Mexico #10!" and be released. Maybe it would be better political theatre if they crossed into Mexico from the U.S. without identification.

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