Here is the latest news out of Arizona, courtesy of every one of the major news services. I am quoting parts of the story as reported by the Associated Press:
PHOENIX — Gov. Jan Brewer said Friday that most illegal immigrants entering Arizona are being used to transport drugs across the border, an assertion that critics slammed as exaggerated and racist.
Brewer said the motivation of “a lot” of the illegal immigrants is to enter the United States to look for work, but that drug rings press them into duty as drug “mules.”
“I believe today, under the circumstances that we’re facing, that the majority of the illegal trespassers that are coming into the state of Arizona are under the direction and control of organized drug cartels and they are bringing drugs in,” Brewer said.
“There’s strong information to us that they come as illegal people wanting to come to work. Then they are accosted and they become subjects of the drug cartel,” she said.
Interestingly enough, not even the union of the Border Patrol agents supports the Governor, and they have been critics of USA politics and policies with regards to immigration from the time of President Clinton. They say:
T.J. Bonner, president of the union that represents border agents, said some illegal border-crossers carry drugs but most don’t. People with drugs face much stiffer penalties for entering the U.S. illegally, and very few immigrants looking for work want to risk the consequences, Bonner said.
“The majority of people continue to come across in search of work, not to smuggle drugs,” he said. “Most of the drug smuggling is done by people who intend to do that. That’s their livelihood.”
Further comments are:
“Unless Gov. Brewer can provide hard data to substantiate her claim that most undocumented people crossing into Arizona are ‘drug mules,’ she must retract such an outrageous statement,” said Oscar Martinez, a University of Arizona history professor whose teaching and research focuses on border issues. “If she has no data and is just mouthing off for political reasons, as I believe she is doing, then she must apologize to the people of Arizona for lying to them so blatantly.”
Sadly, there are all too many people who believe what Governor Brewer said. The years of exaggerations are coming to fruition in Arizona in a terrible way. The illegal stops of USA citizens as a result of the ostensible “immigration enforcement” law have been documented. Now Governor Brewer fans the fire by labeling most illegal immigrants as drug mules. I wonder how long until we begin to read news stories of not just illegal stops of USA citizens, but even illegal jailings and attacks. Our USA history shows all too well (in the South) what happens when you gin up stories that a particular group is harmful. And, for all the denials by the Governor, that is precisely what she is doing.
And, yet, there will still be good Christians that will continue to support Gov. Brewer and see absolutely nothing wrong with what she has said this time and will not catch the incredible worries that this is engendering in the Latino community. Worse, many will not even see any tinge of xenophobia in anything she has said and will actually agree with her statements about illegal immigrant drug mules, despite the statements by the Border Patrol spokesman (management) and the Border Patrol union leader that Gov. Brewer’s statement is not accurate.
The Catholic bishops consistently call us to put aside this type of talk and thinking. For those of us who are Orthodox or Roman Catholic, we would do well to consider Gov. Brewer’s statements in the light of the bishops’ statements.
Fr. Ernesto –
I live in AZ and am appalled by Gov. Brewer’s remarks. But there are two facts that explain them.
First, every Republican (and some Democrats) running in AZ this year was galvanized by a poll about SB 1070 (‘the papers please law’) that allegedly showed that 70% of Arizonans support it, and that it has support nationwide. Since then, the careless and racist rhetoric about immigrants has grown exponentially, as the candidates (and Brewer is running) appeal to what they perceive is a broadly approving audience.
Second, Arizona is dominated by the huge population of Maricopa County (the Phoenix metro area, including Tempe, Mesa, etc.), where the GOP reigns and which in many ways is the least culturally mixed part of the state. Unlike the southern counties with large Latino populations and which actually touch the US-Mexico border, Maricopa County is overwhelmingly white, not native, and suburban. This is Brewer’s base. Arizona hasn’t had a governor who came from outside Maricopa County since the 1970s.
These reasons don’t excuse Brewer and everyone else whose campaigns are based on pushing the buttons of white racial fear and resentment they explain them. I’m reminded of how southern governors used to campaign by rousing white fear by calling the blacks who were marching for civil rights, dangerous, agitators, communist-led. This is a miserable time in AZ. Would to God more Christians here would stand up for social justice.
In the first sentence of the fourth paragraph above, there should have been a comma between “resentment” and “they explain them.”
Fr. Ernesto, thank you very much for bringing much-needed, thoughtful attention to the tragedy in AZ. And thank you for highlighting the bishop’s statements. I’m Catholic; we’re blessed in the diocese of Tucson (which includes the border) with an excellent bishop