SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

At War In Texas

Tom Barry

The fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. (Photograph: Eugenio del Bosque/ Flickr: EdelBosque)

Heads bowed in prayer, we stand at a bucolic spot on the banks of the Rio Grande known by locals as Neely’s Crossing. Like most of West Texas, there is nothing here. On the other side, drug wars have turned Mexican border towns in the Valle de Juárez and elsewhere into killing grounds.

As Hudspeth County deputies armed with AR-15 semi-automatic weapons stand guard, we close in around Reverend Jim Garlow. “Lord, we thank you Lord for gathering us here,” he says. “We thank you for all you have given us and our great nation. We ask you Lord to protect American exceptionalism, to protect U.S. national sovereignty, and secure our border.” Garlow, a prominent evangelical minister, recently had been selected by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to serve as chairman of Renewing American Leadership (ReAL), a new organization dedicated to promoting the “‘otherness’ of America’s exceptional culture and government [whose] manifest
success . . . . has made us a target.”

Garlow was speaking to the attendees at a two-day “Border School” sponsored by the Border Sheriff’s Posse, an evangelical group that teams up with the Texas Border Sheriff ’s Coalition (TBSC) and the Southwestern Border Sheriff ’s Coalition to educate Christians about threats some law-enforcement officials believe loom across the border.

This article has become a book!

Boorder Wars (book cover)
buy now

Border Wars

Tom Barry
MIT / Cloth / $14.95 / September 2011
With the rise of the Tea Party and Governor-turned-presidential-candidate Rick Perry, the entire country may soon be following a Texas model of border security. In Border Wars, Tom Barry (2010 National Magazine Award finalist for public-interest reporting) documents the costs of that model: lives lost; families torn apart; billions of wasted tax dollars; vigilantes prowling the desert; and fiscal crises at every level of government.

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Comments

1 |
President, American Border Patrol - an NGO
Excellent article with one major exception. No mention is made of BlueServo, the Texas Sheriff's Border Coalition's bordercam system. BlueServo holds the dual promise of controlling the border and documenting the extent of the problem. It should be expanded and improved.
— posted 09/28/2010 at 11:09 by Glenn Spencer
2 |
Not looking forward to comprehensive reform
What's going on at the border is tragic, irrational, and inhumane, but a coherent federal plan is unlikely to improve the situation. The conservatives are in ascendence. They will dictate that comprehensive policy. Soon enough we'll have machine gun nests on the border and a reinstated National Origins Quota.

What we have now sucks, but I prefer the opportunism and rent-seeking of Rick Perry and Arvin West—not to mention Jan Brewer—to the restrictionist overreach of our next Congress. At least what Perry and Brewer are doing is local and temporary. The 112th Congress will make us rue the day we ever spoke the words "comprehensive immigration reform."
— posted 09/28/2010 at 15:31 by Jeannette
3 |
Securing a border is a basic job of government
Only a liberal out-of-touch moron would describe the desire of a people to secure their border as being primarily a right-wing rant.

The immigrant, legal and from Mexico, in my house is all for securing the border. Her brother is a member of the Federal Police in Mexico fighting the drug cartels.
— posted 09/30/2010 at 19:30 by Robert
4 |
Secure the border
Only an insane delusional liberal would think that it is a good idea to have a wide open border with third world country. 40 million Mexicans with an average 8th grade education want to come to America to drag our social services down even further. They have no interest in assimilating and simply want the money and they also want to maintain their filthy culture with them.
— posted 10/01/2010 at 01:45 by Mike W
5 |
It's amazing how the author demonizes honest citizens as restrictionists, when all they desire is the protection of national sovereignty and their government. Don't like open borders = restrictionist. Pathetic.
— posted 10/19/2010 at 10:25 by Horace
6 |
"Soon enough we'll have machine gun nests on the border and a reinstated National Origins Quota."

This would send a message that even the illiterate understands. We already give preference to Latin Americans, but they don't accept our right to any limits at all.
— posted 10/19/2010 at 10:34 by Horace
7 |
Excellent Article!
Thank you so much for writing this article. As a Texas border resident, I am fed up with the demonizing of our borders for political or xenophobic/racist agendas. I have lived here for over 30 years and have always felt safe. I've never had any problems with violence coming across the border, nor do I know of anyone who has. While I do agree that we need to protect our borders, let's keep it realistic. We are not living in fear! It is a shame that Mexico is going through these wars, but let's leave what's happening in Mexico in Mexico. What is happening there is not happening here, and I'm glad you wrote this article to expose how some of our local politicians are demonizing our safe American borders to line their pockets. I often wonder if the call for more money for weapons is used to provide weapons to the cartels in Mexico by these politicians. It'd be interesting to look into that. I have no doubt in my mind that some how or another that money is being used to fund the very same people these Sheriff's and politicians are claiming to be defending the border from. I'd really love for you to contact me so we can get together and video tape life on the border. I bet you you'll video tape more DPS stops for speeding, border patrol snoozing on peoples lawns, and Sheriff patrol vehicles speeding with their lights on when there is no emergency.
— posted 03/27/2011 at 06:04 by M. Rod
8 |
Sorry
P.S. Sorry for the double post. I didn't know refresh would do that, but I wanted to also invite you to my blog where I am fighting this exact demonizing of our borders. You can find me here:
http://onthetexasborder.blogspot.com/
or on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=779232626#!/pages/Stop-Demonizing-Our-Borders/135894929798074?sk=wall

Thank you for letting me share these links. :)
— posted 03/27/2011 at 06:09 by M. Rod
9 |
couldn't agree more
I've spent the last 4 years running non-profits who's distinguishing feature is the use of kayaking to give people another view of the Rio Grande and furthering the notion that legal activity can displace illegal activity. I can document 3000 customer days on the river with out a single unpleasant incident and almost as few sightings of illegal activity. This is not to say that the river is not the scene of regular illegal activity but -- other than an occasional swimmer (and I do mean occassional; like once this year) -- I see nothing. Ever. This is either testament to the effective job that Border Patrol does in forcing activity to occur at night, or at driving it far from towns where most people live and into less populated areas. What is certain is that the image of a lawless and dangerous place does not square with reality. To see what it's really like, check out the regular posts of people who visit it with us at our website: www.BigRiverFoundation.org, at www.BigRiverOutfitters.org or on Facebook under KayakLaredo.
— posted 11/01/2011 at 07:13 by Eric Ellman
10 |
Thank you
Thank you so much for writing this article. As a Texas border resident, I am fed up with the demonizing of our borders for political or xenophobic/racist agendas. I have lived here for over 30 years and have always felt safe. I've never had any problems with violence coming across the border, nor do I know of anyone who has. While I do agree that we need to protect our borders, let's keep it realistic. anti ride naturel
— posted 03/27/2012 at 15:21 by Sam House
11 |
It's amazing
It's amazing how the author demonizes honest citizens as restrictionists, when all they desire is the protection of national sovereignty and their government. les vertus de l ortie
— posted 04/05/2012 at 18:59 by Bobby Grant
12 |
Utilisation de l'ortie
On the other side, drug wars have turned Mexican border towns in the Valle de Juárez and elsewhere into killing grounds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PO5D1dhNcA
— posted 04/17/2012 at 14:06 by Eminton
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About the Author

Tom Barry directs the TransBorder Project at the Center for International Policy and blogs at Border Lands. His 2009 BR article, A Death in Texas, was a National Magazine Award finalist.

Sarah Hill, The War for Drugs

Joseph H. Carens, The Case for Amnesty


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