JE #3B

After reading the article, "War on the Border," by Todd Miller, I began to despair with the state of our nation.  I have never been particularly patriotic.  My eyes do not well with tears upon hearing "The Star Spangled Banner" or some other drivel.  During the wars with Afghanistan and Iraq, I felt and continue to feel more sympathy for the civilians in those countries who were injured or killed by our service people.  Miller's article makes feel more disgust.  What I am interested in is reading his forthcoming text, Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Homeland Security.  The tone of the article is refreshing, especially the closing line of the article, "...the militarization of the border and the disturbance it causes people like Stewart Loew suggest it is time to look seriously into how we might better police the agencies that police the border."  The power possessed by ICE agents certainly needs to be reigned in, and there needs to be more civilian oversight over their actions.  They cannot be allowed to operate above the law in the name of "national security."  As Miller cites, ICE did not capture a single international terrorist at our southern border.  People need to remember that the 9/11 hijackers all entered the U.S. legally on visas.  If the Dept. of Homeland Security truly wanted to prevent future terrorist attacks, they would scrutinize the work and school visas of "legal" immigrants.  I am sick and tired of Latina/o immigrants being conflated with criminals, but I do not want to institutionalize xenophobia against people from other parts of the world either.  One thing that Miller mentions that I completely agree with is the fact that militarization of the southern border is being undertaken by defense contractors who are desperately searching for new revenue streams.  Again, this is all to serve the needs of capitalism, and everything and every person is now a commodity.