In This Issue
- Merida Initiative: U.S. Aid Package to Mexico
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Columban missionaries have lived on the U.S./Mexico border for more than ten years. The violence we see in the communities where we live and work continues to escalate as a result of both the drug wars and U.S. immigration policy which includes the construction of a border wall.
Today we share with you an important aid package to Mexico which will increase the militarization of the border. We will monitor the implementation of the aid package and keep you abreast of advocacy moments that might arise.
We also invite you to call your members of Congress and share with them your concern regarding the construction of the wall along the border. We have heard from staffers on the Hill that they are hoping to hear from their constituents on this issue. We’ve provided a sample letter below.
Many thanks for your continued solidarity.
In Peace,
Amy Woolam Echeverria
Merida Initiative: U.S. Aid Package to Mexico*
Columban Fr. Kevin Mullins alerted us to the drug trafficking problems along the U.S./Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez. As of early September 2008, 829 drug related murders had occurred there. The fear and insecurity of the people is weighing heavily on the entire community. The U.S. government has made an attempt to deal with the tragedies occurring in areas like Ciudad Juarez with an aid package intended to reduce the drug trade and the subsequent murders.
The Merida Initiative was signed into law on June 30, 2008 by President Bush. It is a counter drug-trafficking and organized crime aid package for Mexico and Central America and is part of the controversial Iraq war supplemental spending bill. The Merida Initiative includes $400 million in assistance for Mexico, plus an additional $60 million for Central America and $2.5 million each for Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Disturbingly, a disproportionately large segment of this aid package, $116.5 million, has been allocated for equipment and training for the Mexican military, a force that has been linked to serious and ongoing human rights abuses. Since President Calderón took office, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission has documented 983 complaints against the army, ranging from murder to sexual assault to illegal detention. Seventy five percent of these complaints have been tied to the military’s crackdown against organized crime.
The Merida Initiative’s heavy focus on military funding is misguided and dangerous as it perpetuates the military’s inappropriate role in domestic counternarcotics and law enforcement activities. Soldiers are not trained for domestic law enforcement and should not take over policing roles, even in cases where police are tainted by corruption. The millions allocated for the military would be more effectively directed towards the critical work of building strong and effective judicial institutions capable of carrying out effective prosecutions, combating corruption, and reforming the police
Fortunately, the plan does call for at least $73.5 million for programs that support judicial reform, anti-corruption and rule of law activities. An additional small, yet beneficial, component of the bill provides $3 million to assist Mexico in developing a national registry of federal, state and municipal police—a key tool for screening law enforcement officers—and $1 million for the UN High Commission for Human Rights office in Mexico City. The remaining human rights safeguards require the State Department to report to the U.S. Congress on the Mexican government’s progress in a number of areas that will improve transparency and accountability. Fifteen percent of funds for the military and police could be withheld if the human rights conditions are not met.
Unfortunately, none of the money in this aid package is intended for poverty relief and little addresses the U.S. contributions of firearms and voracious domestic drug demand to the problems experienced in Latin America. U.S. lawmakers need to heed Mexico’s call for ‘bilateral cooperation’ seriously. The U.S. must dedicate adequate attention and resources to solve the problems on our side of the border that increase violence in Mexico and Central America.
* Analysis provided by the Latin American Working Group, www.lawg.org
ACTION ALERT: OPPOSE ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR THE BORDER WALL
Construction of the physical fence on the border between Mexico and the United States has been ongoing for years. Residents and businesses on both sides of the border face continued property damage and destruction as the wall is built. Migrants in search of a better life are increasingly funneled into remote areas where they are likely to die from dehydration and exposure.
Recently the Department of Homeland Security reported overruns in the cost of completing the fence. DHS is asking the government to provide additional money to complete the project. The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations sub-committee on Homeland Security, David E. Price, is considering approving an additional $400 million to the construction of the Border Wall physical fence. The fence has already caused significant disruption to the lives of the people in border communities as well as environmental damage. Knowing that respect for the dignity of every person and care for God’s creation are integral to our faith, please take action today to stop additional funding for the ill-conceived border fence.
Please write to your Representative and Senators using the letter template below. In addition you can call your Representative/Senators and tell them to OPPOSE additional funding for the Border Wall. Members of Congress are interested in the opinions and needs of their constituents. To reach your Representative/Senators, call (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to their office. (Find your representative here: http://www.house.gov/zip/ZIP2Rep.html and your senator here: http://www.senate.gov.) Ask to speak to the staffer who handles immigration issues, and once connected:
• Tell them that you oppose any additional funding for the Border Wall.
• Urge them to focus on a comprehensive solution for our broken immigration system that unites families, provides an earned path to citizenship for undocumented migrants already living here, protects human rights and Border ecology and respects the concerns of Border communities.
Dear Senator/Representative [enter Senator or Representative’s name]:
I write to you as a concerned citizen and a person of faith to advocate for a more reasoned approach to the Border Fence now being constructed along the U.S.-Mexican border. It has been proposed by the Department of Homeland Security that an additional $400 million be added to the budget for the construction of the fence. I am opposed to the addition of this money to the fence budget and I am asking you to oppose any efforts to augment the current budget.
The border fence will have multiple negative social and environmental impacts on border communities. I am most concerned about the poor and minority (migrant or non-migrant) residents whose lives have already been disrupted. The fence has resulted in the deaths of migrants crossing the border in search of the security which eludes them in their own country. As walls are built in populated areas, desperation drives more people to risk their lives in the desert. In addition, fragile ecosystems are threatened and fragmented by construction of the fence.
The additional spending proposed by DHS is unwise in these difficult economic times. The national debt is near $9 trillion and will increase with a federal bailout package for the nation’s financial system. Spending an additional $400 million on a project that has already cost billions of dollars will not deter immigrants, will harm our environment, jeopardizes our relationship with Mexico, and will increase our budget deficit.
The joint U.S.-Mexico Catholic Bishops Pastoral Letter on Migration states that ours “…is a faith that transcends borders and bids us to overcome all forms of discrimination and violence so that we may build relationships that are just and loving." Oppose the additional spending on the border fence and work towards building relationships, not walls.
Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
[NAME]
[Congregation, if appropriate]
[City, State] |
