The Border, the Wall and a Post-9/11 New World Order

Editor's Note: Nguoi Viet's Dzung Do and photographer Benjamin Vu received a McCormick Tribune Foundation Fellowship to work on immigration stories at the Arizona- Mexico border.

After Sept. 11, 2001, the United States increased control of the borders with Mexico to try to stop illegal immigrants. Hundreds of miles of wall were erected. More personnel were sent to the borders to patrol around the clock.

In May 2005, President Bush ordered 6,000 National Guard troops to border states California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to help stop illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, the northern border of the United States, next to Canada, has no wall nor any military unit deployed.

"Between the U.S. and Canada, there is almost no wall at all, nor any border line," said Professor Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego. "U.S. residents can go to Canada and return without any problem. Only at the border entries are there some clear border lines."

On the other hand, the United States doesn’t accept many Mexicans to immigrate legally, compared to those from other countries.

The Wall

Journalist Charles Bowden, born and raised near the borders of Sonora, Mexico, and Arizona and author of many books about Mexican migrants, said: "Before, Mexico and the U.S. had no border fence. Then, Nogales was just a city located between the two countries. Later, the border was drawn and divided the city into two. As time goes by, wire was set up along the borders between two countries. However, going back and forth between Mexico and the U.S. was easy.

"Only after Sept. 11 … the U.S. began to pay attention to build walls along the borders. Since then, crossing the U.S. borders is getting more difficult."

After that, the United States started to build walls at Arizona’s border entries of Nogales, Sasabe, Douglas and Naco, etc., but the wave of migrants crossing borders didn’t decrease. It has even actually increased.

"Before, Mexicans drove here a lot without anyone’s notice. Since the wall was erected, few people came here. However, on the other sections, more migrants cross the borders, especially in the terrain areas, because we can’t build the wall," said U.S. National Guard Master Sgt. Michael Drake, media officer of Operation Jump Start’s Joint Task Force Vista Center.

So, instead of crossing directly in San Diego, migrants have decided to go around, which is farther and more dangerous. Or, they hide inside the cars or try to bribe border patrol officers at the border entry.

While lecturing, Cornelius showed us a picture of a woman hiding inside a dashboard of a van. The van was stopped after it crossed the border entry between Tijuana and San Diego.

In the article "Broken Fences," on borderstories.org, published on May 28, there was a story about the Kay family, living in a ranch in Arivaca, Ariz., near the Mexican border. One paragraph quotes: "The Kay family praises building the wall along the borders since it helps reduce the amount of drug dealers entering the U.S. Nevertheless, they still see about 1,000 migrants from Mexico walking through their ranch."

Deaths in the Desert

Dying in the desert is one of the many things may happen to migrants, especially on the hot days in summertime. They die because of heat, thirst and dryness, among other things, such as robbery and rape, gang activities.

Ed McCullough, from "Los Samaritanos" -- a group that saves and helps migrants in the U.S. side of the Sonora Desert -- said: "On the U.S. side, there is no water tank for migrants like on the Mexican side. Migrants have to carry their own water. When too thirsty, they drink up the water. When they are thirsty again, there is no water for them."