Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Co-Pander-In-Chief Sends Troops to the Border

Of course I understand the need to compromise. Comprehensive immigration reform will require massive doses of tougher enforcement. Fear of "losing control" of the border must be addressed before the shear inhumanity of hunting down undocumented workers and disappearing them from their children without a word can be ended (at least for a few). Still, there are times when the terms of stroking America's unself consciously racialized victim identity is so odious that one must protest. Randal C. Archibold in the New York Times reports that:

Calls to send troops to the border mounted after the shooting death of a rancher in southern Arizona on March 27; the police suspect the rancher was killed by someone involved in smuggling. Advocates of a new state law in Arizona that gives the police a greater role in immigration enforcement also emphasized what they considered a failure to secure the border as a reason to pass the law.


Are you kidding? One rancher is dead and drug smugglers may be involved! By those terms Richmond and Oakland should be occupied by divisions of National Guard troops.

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