This month is the third anniversary
of Operation Gatekeeper, the centerpiece of the Clinton Administration's efforts to combat illegal immigration to California. In all the hoopla about Gatekeeper's supposed success, not much was said about its dark side:
the strategy of pushing migrants eastward that has become increasingly deadly. So far this year, the official body count is 78 and Border Patrol agents themselves wonder how many migrants die and are never counted. At
least 47 died from exposure in the Tecate mountains and Imperial desert; another 20 drowned in the All American Canal separating Calexico and Mexicali. Many other migrants have been found near death.The aim of
Gatekeeper was to disrupt traditional border crossing patterns between the ocean and San Diego's Otay Mesa, and to move the traffic into some of the most punishing areas in the Southwest. At first, Gatekeeper planners bet on
mountains with peaks of up to 5,000 feet to help stop migrants. As explained by INS Western Regional Director Gustavo de la Vina to the San Diego Union Tribune: "The idea was that the terrain was so difficult
that [migrants] would not attempt it." That, unfortunately, did not happen and 16 men and women froze to death this January trying to get over the mountains.
"It shocked us," said de la Vina. Obviously, not
enough. The planners then bet on the desert, where temperatures can reach 120-plus degrees for days on end, to dissuade migrants. During August alone, 13 migrants died of heat stroke.
In the face of this human
toll, what has Gatekeeper accomplished other than removing illegal border crossings from the public eye? Although some migrants are deterred by the new strategy, most see no option but to take enormous risks. Record
numbers are crossing the desert boundary with Mexico 400% more than at the outset of Gatekeeper. Researchers put the possibility of apprehension at only 20-30%. Moreover, as the recent Binational Study of
Migration pointed out, the possibility of apprehension can actually fall despite a build-up of agents and hardware, if it makes more border crossers turn to migrant smugglers. And Gatekeeper has been a definite boon for
smugglers.
The Border Patrol's worn-out response to criticism of a strategy which puts migrants in mortal harm's way is to blame smugglers. Of course, those who take migrants on awful treks of up to 60 miles and abandon
anyone who falls behind must be prosecuted to the hilt. But smugglers are not the cause of illegal immigration and crackdowns on them are not going to dry up the supply of guides. The potential payoff is too big.
No, there is no nice way to stop illegal immigration. The problem with Gatekeeper is excessive reliance on border control efforts. The moral dilemma lays in how far we will go to dissuade Mexico's poor from
doing what the United States encouraged them to do for decades: come north. Yes, efforts must be redoubled to urge those considering an illegal crossing to weigh very carefully their need for economic betterment against
the risks. Unfortunately, such a message will not resonate successfully with the average Mexican worker, who earns 26 pesos, or $3 a day.
In this connection, another key indicator that Gatekeeper has had little affect is
the continued availability of workers to industries which are heavily dependent on undocumented workers. A study done by University of California-San Diego's Center for US-Mexican Studies showed that over 90% of San Diego
employers in the suspect industries experienced no tightening of the labor pool. In fact, nearly 25% reported an increase in immigrant job applicants.
It is hardly news that jobs are the attraction. So are there any
substantial efforts to target employers who reap great profits from hiring undocumented workers and violate myriad laws in the process? In San Diego, of all places, this should not be hard. Yet Alan Borsin, US
Attorney for the Southern California District, who is also the Clinton Administration's border czar, has mostly ignored the immigrant magnet. Not a single employer has been prosecuted in 1997. The national figures
are also pretty pitiful. Surely, putting employers in the government's sights is a more humane, not to mention effective, strategy for "enforcing the rule of law" at the border.
We cannot seal the border even this the
Border Patrol concedes. The result of the latest tactic, shifting 130 Border Patrol agents to the El Centro sector for the next couple months, may well be to drive migrants deeper into the vast desert expanse. In short,
while Mexico's much-touted economic recovery continues to bypass its poor as they continue to meet our need for cheap and disposable labor, every night countless groups will set out along the most dangerous stretch of our
border. The prospect for the next months and years is appalling.
For more information, contact California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation at (760) 966-0511.
