US-Mexico Border - On Thursday the House of Representatives approved a measure to authorize the Secretary of Defense to place military troops along the southern U.S. border. Known as the Goode Amendment for its sponsor Virgil Goode (R-VA), it was attached to the Defense Department FY2007 Authorization bill. Anonymous sources also revealed a Bush Administration request for the Pentagon to investigate plans to send military troops on the border. It is speculated that Bush may announce this new proposal during his Monday evening speech.

Border communities are united in their opposition to the Goode Amendment, and fear that the placement of National Guard troops on the border with Mexico will further exacerbate the state-of siege mentality that has extended over the region since militarization of the region began, in the name of immigration enforcement and the war on drugs, over a decade ago. Currently, border communities face arbitrary detentions and arrests by the Border Patrol, racial profiling is rampant in Latino neighborhoods, the presence of military vehicles and infrastructure are pervasive, and the use of deadly force by Border Patrol agents claims innocent lives each year.

The border is often referred to as "porous", implying that it is a wide-open, uninhabited region. Yet, proposals to further militarize the region ignore major population centers in the region such as San Diego, El Paso, Brownsville, and many others. Sending the National Guard to patrol these areas will impact the six million people that call the US-Mexican border home.

"Border communities are being used as political pawns for politicians using 'get-tough on the border' policies to bolster their election year approval ratings," explains Jennifer Allen, director of the Arizona-based Border Action Network.

"We believe that we, as the people that live here, know the reality better than those in Washington. We should have a voice in the policies that impact our daily lives. We reject the placement of the National Guard along the border, and strongly feel it would intimidate law-abiding residents of our communities, creating a climate of fear. In the name of border security and homeland security, the Bush Administration is making border communities more insecure," continues Allen.

During the Civil War Reconstruction era, Congress approved the Posse Comitatus Act, preventing the use of U.S. military on domestic soil. Over the last twenty years, Congress has been whittling away at the Act as they have approved greater military-style enforcement measures on the border.

With the 1994 implementation of the Border Patrol's Southwest Border Strategy, the border has been converted into a low-intensity conflict zone with increasing migrant death tolls every year. Nearly 10,000 Border Patrol agents are stationed in the region. Fifteen foot tall solid metal walls divide U.S. and Mexican border towns. Underground surveillance devices and thirty foot tall camera towers are connected to observation rooms filled with monitors. Military equipment, such as Kiowa and Apache helicopters and humvees as well as military training in interrogation tactics have all been incorporated into border enforcement agencies' routines.

Border and immigrant community groups have been rallying for what they call "alternative guidelines for border enforcement". This March, a delegation of 300 community members traveled to D.C. to talk with every Senate office and present recommendations for border security that upholds civil and human rights.

"As border communities, we need to be considered part of the solution, not treated as the enemy," adds Fernando Garcia, director of the Border Network for Human Rights based in Texas and New Mexico.

"We will all lose if the Administration and the Congress focuses on enforcement-only measures and continues to use our backyards as their political playground."

"Whether we have five Border Patrol agents or fifty thousand troops, there must be mechanisms for accountability, ongoing training and certification in human and civil rights, credible and transparent complaint processes, consultations with communities, and compliance with environmental protections" concludes Garcia.

Military operations are not new to the border region. Currently, Northern Command, Joint Task Force North and the National Guard have limited missions on the border.

Critics of these operations say that the military is not trained to be operating in the backyards of U.S. communities and point to the 1997 shooting death of a Texas high school student, Ezequiel Hernandez, by a Marine operation while herding his family's goats. The Marines determined that the 17-year old boy fit the profile of a drug smuggler and shot him. Shortly after the incident, the military's role on the border was suspended.

"When policing is done by soldiers, our communities become the enemy. Ezequiel Hernandez's case proves this. There was, and obviously still are, good reasons the Posse Comitatus Act was passed 150 years ago," said Pedro Rios, interim co-director of the San Diego office of the American Friends Service Committee.

"The U.S. Border Patrol struggles with issues of accountability to constitutional rights, a lack of transparent complaint processes and insufficient community security. Placing soldiers that are not trained in immigration or civil and human rights in our backyard will only exacerbate an already tense situation," elaborates Rios.

The Goode Amendment makes no provisions for additional accountability of forces at the US-Mexico border. Rather, it continues the dangerous trend of creating zones of low-intensity conflict on American soil. We strongly urge the U.S. Senate to reject this approach to border security, and call on all political leaders in Washington to discard policies that further militarize our border with Mexico and instead work for real solutions.