J/P Alert is the newsletter of the Justice and Peace office of CMSM. It is intended to inform and stimulate discussion and involvement among the members. Its contents do not necessarily represent official positions of CMSM.

Human, Economic and Environmental Impacts of Border Fencing

[The following is an expanded version of a Hill Drop written by T. Michael McNulty, SJ, for the Border Working Group and sent to Congressional offices in August 2006.]

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me.” [Mt. 25:35]

In the March 29, 2006, issue of Long Island Newsday, cartoonist Walt Handelsman portrays two Mexicans working on a construction site. One of them says the other, "I worry about them kicking us out and building a fence," to which the other replies, "Who would build it?" As T. J. Bonner, national president of the National Border Patrol Council, said at a joint congressional hearing July 20, 2006, "As long as destitute illegal aliens can find work in the United States, millions of them will cross our borders ever year."

Economic impacts
The border with Mexico is nearly two thousand miles long. Even at a very low estimate of $1 million per mile (Rep. Duncan Hunter), that represents an expenditure of more than $2 billion for construction materials alone, to say nothing of service roads, surveillance equipment, maintenance and a horde of other major and minor costs. And experience indicates that Rep. Hunter's $1 million per mile is much too low. The experience of building a fence near San Diego indicated a cost of $3.8 million per mile, with some construction in difficult terrain going much higher.

Of course, there is no serious proposal to fence the entire border. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff indicated in an interview given to Cox News Service on Nov. 10, 2005, that the administration did not support sealing the entire border. He said, "Let me be clear — we will not build a giant wall across our borders," but only in some areas. The House bill calls for about 700 miles, the Senate version about half that. One is immediately led to ask, “How will this help?” Won’t migrants simply go around the barriers, defeating its purpose while putting themselves in jeopardy [remember, more than 400 people lost their lives in the desert trying to cross the border in the fiscal year ending September 2005]? One is reminded of the quip by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein: “If I say ‘I have locked the man up fast in the room --there is only one door left open’— then I simply haven't locked him in at all; his being locked in is a sham. One would be inclined to say here: ‘You haven't done anything at all.’” Not a very good return on a multi-billion-dollar investment.

The economic impact on border communities should not be underestimated. According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle on Feb. 26, 2006, Mike Allen, director of the McAllen (Texas) Economic Development Corp., said leaders from along the Rio Grande agreed at a recent gathering: “Every single mayor from Brownsville to El Paso is against it. We want people to support our immigration laws because we live here, but this will be a tremendous waste of money, and it will not stop (illegal) immigration. People will just go around it.” The same article reported that leaders in many border cities already have vehemently objected to a fence. The city of Calexico in Imperial County passed a resolution in early January opposing it. “We should be in the construction of bridges of good relationships with Mexico,” said Calexico Mayor Alex Perrone, whose city has mutual aid agreements with the police and fire departments in neighboring Mexicali, just over the border in Baja California. Calexico's retail economy depends on Mexican shoppers, he added. “If we don't have Mexico, we don't have Calexico.”

Douglas Massey has suggested that increased border enforcement has disrupted previous patterns of migration. Whereas previously people used to come to the United States to work for a time and then returned home to Mexico, now they are staying permanently and bringing their families with them. (NPR, April 6, 2006) And a spokesman for Texas governor Michael Perry is quoted in the Mexico City newspaper El Universal saying that the governor’s view is, “The response to the problem of migration is not to close the borders but on the contrary to open them.”

Ecological impacts
The Real ID Act, according to political scientist Stephen Mumme in a paper presented to the Association for Borderlands Studies in April of 2006, “trumped all federal, state, tribal, and municipal law, utterly exempting [the Department of Homeland Security] from either the environmental impact statement process or any other public disclosure required by the National Environmental Policy Act, even in the planning process.” Building a fence along the border, in other words, does not require taking environmental impact into account. Mumme continues, “there is little doubt that construction and traffic will worsen air quality in all border adjacent areas where roads are built. Conventional fences will impede or prevent wildlife flows and their construction may well impact endangered or threatened species. Fences, even permeable fences or a series of posts, will disrupt watersheds and runoff, altering patterns of percolation and absorption, changing patterns of germination and seed dispersal, and altering natural habitat…. Along the Rio Grande, a vast, interconnected network of wildlife habitats comprise the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, home to 1,100 plants, 287 butterflies, and nearly 900 vertebrates including 465 types of birds. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service describes the refuge as one of the most biologically diverse wildlife corridors in the continental United States. These habitat zones span the international boundary and are sure to be impaired by the fencing project.”

The fence would block migration paths for deer, javelina, coyotes and mountain lions, as well as pronghorn antelope and jaguars, who are just beginning to repopulate the Southwest. Kim Vacariu, Southwest director for the Wildlands Project, is concerned about how the proposed fence would affect Sky Islands, a region of mountains, grasslands and desert in southeastern Arizona and northern Mexico that is critical to native plants and the cross-border movement of animals, reptiles and birds. (San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 27, 2006)

The bottom line
In A Labor Day Statement on Immigration and Work, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, Chair of the USCCB Domestic Policy Committee, writes,

The immigration debate this Labor Day challenges us to consider again who we are as a nation, how our economy treats all workers, how we welcome the “strangers” among us. As Catholics, we should join this discussion and bring our belief in the sacredness of human life, the inherent dignity of the human person and the value of work. We cannot simply retreat behind walls at our borders or in our hearts and minds. As believers, we are called to build bridges between the native born and newcomer, between legitimate concerns about security and national traditions of welcome, from fear and frustration to hope and action for a better tomorrow.

Border Patrol agent Pedro Martinez is quoted in a recent Los Angeles Times article (August 13, 2006): “You deal with a lot of human misery — real human misery. You're dealing with the poorest of the poor. People are determined to get across the border no matter what. Jobs and the American dollar, that's the issue.” In the same article we read the following: “[W]hen [Paul Backor, border patrol agent] catches mothers and fathers crossing with their children, he thinks about how much he wants to make life better for his daughters, Abby and Emily, and he wonders whether border agents could ever stop poor families from sneaking into America.”

The Save Darfur Coalition is organizing "SAVE DARFUR NOW: Voices to Stop Genocide," a rally and concert in New York City on September 17.

For two weeks in September, the United Nations General Assembly will meet in New York City. This is an opportunity to bring our efforts on behalf of the people of Darfur directly to the United Nations. That is why, in addition to "SAVE DARFUR NOW: Voices to Stop Genocide," we begin 10 Days of Action on September 7 leading up to September 17.

If you cannot make it to New York City, September 17 events are taking place in cities around the country and the globe all with the same goal: to show worldwide support for the people of Darfur and to put pressure on world governments to protect Darfur's innocent civilians. Click here for more information and to sign up to attend.

Share Foundation Anniversary

This year The SHARE Foundation: Building a New El Salvador Today is celebrating its 25th Anniversary. As we remember a quarter century of accompanying organized communities in El Salvador as they struggle for social and economic justice, we would like to invite you to help us commemorate this significant milestone.

There will be three regional 25th Anniversary events:

Washington, DC – September 30, 2006
Milwaukee – Fall 2007
San Francisco – Winter 2007

SHARE responded to a cry for solidarity by literally walking with Salvadorans as they reclaimed their homes and villages amid a civil war. Today our accompaniment of the most marginalized and vulnerable of El Salvador continues through our support of women’s empowerment, citizen’s participation and leadership development. More information is available on the SHARE Foundation website.

Prayer for Peace in the Middle East

Religions for Peace-USA is cooperating with the National Council of Churches in an effort to encourage “A Season of Prayer for Peace in the Middle East.” More information is available at http://www.seasonofprayer.org/.

DVD on Democratic Republic of Congo Available from CRS

Catholic Relief Services is making available a DVD on the Democratic Republic of the Congo that was developed by Caritas Internationalis. The DVD is divided into six 10 minute segments, each dealing with current issues facing the country:

1. Plundering of Resources
2. Rape as a Weapon of War
3. The Congo Today
4. The Political Transition
5. The International Community
6. The Catholic Church’s Involvement

More information about how to obtain the DVD and supporting materials can be had by contacting:

Alice Cutchember
Advocacy Department
Catholic Relief Services
209 W. Fayette Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201-3443

telephone: (410) 951-7264
fax number: (410) 234-2987

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.
How can the Justice and Peace Office help you get involved?

T. Michael McNulty, SJ, editor
mmcnulty@cmsm.org

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