Sarina Smith Goes to a Border Solutions Meeting

    by Leslie Clark


After seeking answers at an American Border Patrol meeting
and finding only unsettling prejudice and potential violence,
I attended a meeting of a group claiming to be “People
working together for viable solutions to border issues.” 
On a sunny Saturday, some hundred people gathered
in an ancient, hard-seated auditorium.
An eclectic gathering–-elected officials, grey-haired folks
clad in costumes reminiscent of the sixties, head-covering ranging
from ten-gallons, to scarf-wraps, to velvet picture-hats.
Lots of young people–-high school and college age, 
rainbow-mixed in ethnicity, filled the room with their 
eager exclamations, their jittery sociability.
I huddled in my uncomfortable seat, smiled in response
to occasional greetings by curious strangers.
										
Five people sat on stage, attire ranging from
business suits to blue jeans, shuffling papers.
Finally one woman held up a hand for silence.
“I’m from the ACLU,” she declared, over the persistent
buzz of audience.  “Let me tell you our view of things.”
She told us she has been in Arizona for two years.
The woman in front of me snickered.  “All these new
people,” she said.  “What do they know about anything?”
The ACLU woman informed us that once illegals are in this country,
 they have the rights of American citizens.  ACLU has worked
in the past to distribute rights cards to those captured,
but are now forbidden to do so by the Border Patrol.
The reports of the UDA burden on health care, she declared
are a “red herring.” There are 40 million uninsured in the U.S.
of which illegals are a mere fraction. 

A Native American woman stood from the front row
to tell us of  historical context–-the origins of the border
and beyond. Once her tribe was one nation–-some living North,
some South, nomadic and accustomed to travel back and forth.
Then some government declared, “This land is U.S., and that is Mexico.”
Dividing families, disrupting livelihoods.  There are many still,
she told us, that do not recognize that line as real.
Who merely seek to be one people, one tribe.

An elected official then stood on stage to tell us
more history–-how in the 19th century, when industries
developed in the West, the movement of Mexican workers
became a tradition, now long-standing. The U.S. economy,
he declared, is still very dependent on Mexican labor.
Mexicans purchase goods worth $950 million a year
in Tucson alone.  “A guest worker program,” he said,” is the only
solution.  It will not happen easily, because too many 
people are making money with the current situation.”
I smiled.  One common thread, at least, with those vigilante folks.

Others stood and spoke, giving more statistics.
Audience members asked pointed or rambling questions.
At the end of the afternoon, at least I knew more facts.
What was still missing were solutions.
I drove home, past half a dozen green-striped trucks,
and two groups of huddled immigrants,
feeling more puzzled than ever.