June 18, 2010 Memo From Middle America (Formerly Known As Memo From Mexico), By Allan WallMexico Exploits Border Deaths To Cow Americans
I write this article from Mexico, where
the family and I
are visiting.
Last week, aside from all the hoopla over the
World Cup,
the biggest news story in Mexico was not the ongoing
drug cartel war
but the death on June 8th of Sergio Hernandez, a 15-year
old shot on the border (between El Paso and Ciudad
Juarez) by a
Border Patrol
officer.
The Mexican media and political world were indignant and
hysterical.
Felipe Calderon,
Mexico's president, promised that the Mexican government
"will use all
resources available to protect the rights of Mexican
migrants."[Mexican
Teen Killed on Border Was 'Known Juvenile Smuggler,'
Sources Say,
Fox News, June 9th, 2010]
Later, Calderon, traveling to the World Cup, took time
out from a stopover in the Ivory Coast to make a
declaration demanding
that the U.S. government carry out
"a deep,
impartial and objective investigation which concludes in
the punishment of the guilty ones".
Notice that Calderon calls for an
"objective"
investigation—but he already has the verdict figured
out!
Another Mexican official actually called for an
extradition
of the agent so he could be tried in Mexico.
To its credit, the Border Patrol refused a request of
the Mexican media to identify the agent by name.
The Mexican media and politicians also brought up the
case of Anastasio Hernandez, who had died on May 28th
after Border Patrol agents had
tasered
him, and other deaths in the past few years.
Certainly, all these deaths are nothing to rejoice over.
However, there are extenuating circumstances.
In the case of the teenaged Sergio Hernandez, the Border
Patrol has pointed out that he was
"a known juvenile smuggler", on a most wanted list of juvenile
smugglers in the El Paso area.
Far from being unprovoked, when young Sergio was shot,
the Border Patrol agents were under attack by
rock-throwing youths on the Mexican side.
This was treated with scorn in the
Mexican media.
How can you compare rocks with firearms?
Well,
rocks
can be
deadly.
And what do you suppose
Mexican police or soldiers
would do if they were attacked by rock-throwing
teenagers?
As for the previous case of the 42-year old Anastasio
Hernandez, according to Sara Carter in the
San Francisco Examiner:
"On May 28, Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, 42, died at the
San Ysidro, Calif., border crossing after first being
tasered by U.S. Border Patrol agents. The man was later
found to be intoxicated with
methamphetamine
and to have suffered from hypertension that contributed
to a heart attack. American officials said Hernandez
Rojas fought with agents who were trying to return him
to Mexico."
[U.S.-
Mexican Border Security Continues to Deteriorate,
Officials Say,
June 15, 2010]
These deaths are indeed tragedies. But the Mexican
government and Open Borders activists publicize these
tragic incidents for a reason: They want to
intimidate the Border Patrol
and delegitimize our right to control the border.
The Border Patrol
has a difficult job.
Certainly, its agents should be held to a high standard
and disciplined if they violate it.
But if the Mexican government
really wanted to stop border deaths,
it would tell its own citizens to stop crossing the
border illegally. After all, such crossings not only
violate U.S. law, they are also in violation of Mexican
law—as I've
documented here.
T.J. Bonner,
president of the National Border Patrol Council, was
quoted by the San
Francisco Examiner’s Carter as follows:
"Enough is enough. The Mexican government demanding a
full investigation and pretending they have no control
or responsibility over what happened is unbelievable.
They openly encourage people to cross. Nobody shows up
to stop the rock throwers, smugglers on their side. It's
a terrible thing that they are allowing criminals to
gather on their side of the border to assault our
agents."
As if on cue, just a few days after Sergio's death, U.S.
and Mexican congressmembers gathered for the annual U.S.
Mexico Interparliamentary Group. I’ve reported on this
annual get-together before,
here
and
here.
This year's
"interparliamentary", number 49, was held in
Campeche, Mexico.
Of course, the death of Sergio the teenaged smuggler was
high on the agenda. Even the U.S. delegation got into
the act, producing
this statement:
"The U.S. delegation to the 49th U.S.-Mexico
Inter-Parliamentary Group expresses its profound
condolences for the tragic deaths of Anastasio Hernandez
Rojas and Sergio Adrian Hernandez in the recent
incidents along our shared border. Investigations are
currently ongoing into these matters, and we must not
pre-judge their outcome. These incidents, like many
before along our border, underscore the need for the
U.S. and Mexico to continue to cooperate, to see that
the full story comes to light, justice is served, and
that safeguards are put in place to help avoid such
tragedies in the future."
Excuse me, but how can the U.S. and Mexico cooperate on
border security
when Mexico doesn't want us to have any border security?
Mexico doesn't want us to stop illegal crossers heading
northwards, though it does want us to stop weapons from
traveling southwards.
I would like to propose therefore, an alternative
statement that our lawmakers could have presented to
their Mexican counterparts:
"The U.S. delegation to the 49th U.S.-Mexico
Inter-Parliamentary Group expresses its profound
condolences for the tragic deaths of Anastasio Hernandez
Rojas and Sergio Adrian Hernandez in the recent
incidents along our shared border. Investigations are
currently ongoing into these matters, and we must not
pre-judge their outcome.
“THESE INCIDENTS, LIKE
MANY BEFORE ALONG OUR BORDER,
UNDERSCORE THE NEED FOR THE U.S., AS A
SOVEREIGN NATION,
TO
GAIN COMPLETE CONTROL OF ITS BORDER.
WE CALL UPON OUR MEXICAN COUNTERPARTS TO EXHORT THEIR
OWN CITIZENS TO RESPECT THE SOVEREIGNTY OF U.S. BORDERS
AND TO WORK FOR AN IMPROVED SECURITY AND ECONOMIC
SITUATION IN MEXICO."
That’s more like it!
American citizen Allan Wall (email
him) recently moved back to the |
