He is long dead, but his spirit continues to haunt the US-Mexico border

September 27, 2024 1:25 PM

In the decades since Hanson’s death, the United States has invested ever more in deportation and border militarization in pursuit of an illusory “security.” This criminalization generates black markets—“smuggling networks are the clearest products of efforts at border control,” Weber writes—which systematically beckon border agents toward corruption. The racial politics of border enforcement, now as ever, engender abuse. If Donald Trump is reelected in November, an unshackled immigration police force may lead us into new atrocities, and a breakdown of law in the name of law enforcement, that we have yet to imagine. from The Banality of Border Evil [Texas Observer]

Meanwhile: One day along the Texas-Mexico border shows that realities shift more rapidly than rhetoric [AP]

posted by chavenet (4 comments total)

The Observer is doing great work. They nearly shut down last year and were rescued by a gofundme. I’m a supporter now, and if you have an interest in Texas politics, you should consider supporting them too.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:59 PM on September 27 [4 favorites]

Kamala: "It was the strongest border security bill we have seen in decades…it should be in effect today. But Trump tanked it"
posted by fairmettle at 12:36 AM on September 28 [3 favorites]

It would be way easier just to strictly enforce employment laws so that undocumented aliens didn't find coming here attractive, but that might inconvenience the oligarchy, who needs an underclass willing to work for peanuts in order to keep the rest of us in line.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 5:12 AM on September 28 [3 favorites]

Everyone who is gone is here by Jonathon Blitzer is a Google book on why refugees are leaving central America.
Countries such as El Salvador and Honduras score very highly on the Fragile States index.
The book gives good background on why deported refugees keep returning.
posted by Narrative_Historian at 5:01 PM on September 28 [5 favorites]