May 19, 2006

To the Editor,

President Bush plans to spend billions of our dollars to turn the Mexican border into a war zone, using paramilitary troops and high tech equipment. It’s a horrible idea that Congress should quash immediately. Immigration is a result of social and economic forces that the U.S. has a major part in creating, such as poverty and joblessness in South America. The great wealth that undocumented workers create in the U.S. is unacknowledged, while the government illegally declares war on border communities in the U.S. and Mexico. Who can doubt that Chicanos and Mexicans, and other brown-skinned people, will be abused and killed by trigger-happy, privatized soldiers whose bosses care only for the money they make. The dismal record of privatized prisons shows what poor and working-class people of color can expect.

Millions of immigrants and their supporters in the streets on May Day displayed a powerful force for change that can also help U.S. citizens who are feeling the contempt of our government for their jobs, wages, pensions, and freedom of speech. It’s time that unions, women, the elderly, and all people of color join undocumented workers and stop the destruction of their rights and ours.

Sincerely,
Adrienne Weller