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| Monday, May 12, 2008 | |
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Student Art Projects
 Terroristas? Recently, as a "safety" precaution, there have been more and more measures, both government-sanctioned and civilian based, to try and keep Mexican immigrants from crossing into the United States. The government has led us to believe that these efforts are in no way aimed at directly trying to keep all Mexican immigrants out, but more importantly, the terrorists. Unfortunately the fact that any terrorists who can or have come into the United States through the Mexican border were not of Mexican decent was lost in translation. The U.S government has put out propaganda that has led people to believe that Mexicans are not only essential targets on this war on terror but also single handedly responsible for the deconstruction of American life as we know it. The government has attempted to raise walls and inevitably militarize the border to keep any terrorists who come in the United States by way of Mexico, out. In this effort several programs like the Minuteman Project, Operation Gatekeeper in California, Operation Safeguard in Arizona, Operation Hold-the-Line in Texas, have all sprung up. The most well known of these efforts, the Minuteman Project, was founded by Jim Gilchris and is a civilian run group that has taken the law into their own hands to "patrol" the Mexican border; in their own words they are "operating within the law to support enforcement of the law." They trace their efforts at trying to prevent the events that happened on September 11th from ever occurring again. They have however, failed to mention the fact that this is merely a front since the government knows that none of the terrorists who have ever come into the United States have come through Mexico or were of Mexican decent. In fact, of all the terrorists that participated in the attacks on September 11, 2001, none of them came through way of the Mexican border. All of them had either tourist or student visas which meant they arrived here legally. The attempts at "securing" the Mexican border are merely a distraction from the fact that the government has made little or no progress in improving its security procedures for people who arrive into the country by way of air travel. Another effort against immigration which has recently surfaced has been Wisconsin Congressman James Sensenbrenner's "Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005" otherwise known simply as HR437. This new bill, if passed, would establish illegal immigration as a felony thereby making any person or organization aiding illegal immigrations liable to persecution including churches and relatives. By making illegal immigration a felony, HR437 would give authorities the right to stop and deport anybody suspected of being an illegal immigrant without some form of hearing. As a response to this an estimated 100,000 people, according to the Chicago Tribune, turned out on Friday March 10, 2006 to protest the unjust bill. One of the immigrant groups that would be hardest hit would be Mexican immigrants and many turned out to protest. Our propaganda piece consists of the image of two Mexican immigrants picking grapes in a grape field. Around them stand several U.S Border Patrol Guards with assault rifles monitoring them as they work. In the shrubbery is the word "Terroristas" which has been turned into a question rather than a fact. That is, are the immigrants, who cross the border daily, truly a threat to our security and no better than the individuals who committed the attacks on 9/11 or have they become casualties of a witch hunting war? ~Melissa Chen and David Hernandez |
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