Immigration
Don’t Be Fooled by the Fearmongering Around the Border: Part 3
What is the border really like? And what can we do to help address ongoing issues?
By Martin Kim and Paul Estuar
“A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary.” — Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza
This is the final entry in a three-part series on Asian Americans and the southern border. Read parts one and two.
It is all too easy to slip into the trap of thinking that we can make a distinction between “us” and “them,” between settled immigrants and the newest arrivals through the southern border.
Despite being inside the U.S., people in the borderlands are living in a liminal, undefined space. In her seminal work, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Gloria Anzaldúa introduces the U.S.-Mexican border as a “dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary.” It is not just the ugly, foreboding wall — an object that can cause flooding, injuries, and death — that makes it clear that the borderlands are unnatural. In the borderlands, it’s easy for one’s “American-ness” to slip away in the eyes of the government officials prowling this area.
There were three cars of us, a mix of advocates and lawyers who had driven up a dusty road to the border wall near San Diego. We were looking for the area where hundreds of Chinese immigrants had been kept at a time, without shelter or food, as they waited for Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to process them. These open air detentions (OADs) are designated dropping points where CBP herds migrants they find along the border, telling them that their asylum claims will not be processed unless they wait to be collected at a later date. There were no people left at the OAD we visited. Instead, as we walked along the steel bollard fencing that made up this portion of the border wall, we noticed that people had left their mark, literally, on the rusty red bollards, leaving messages or their names in Simplified Chinese. There are more OADs that are still heavily populated along the wall in the borderland, with many more people with many more stories.
We were on public land. We were not breaking any laws. Yet we were stopped twice while visiting the OADs. The first time, we were asked point-blank if we were smuggling any “illegal immigrants.”
The second time, we were directed to pull over by someone in an unmarked sedan, asked to roll down the windows of our vehicles, and questioned on our U.S. citizenship. It bears repeating: we were lawfully accessing public land inside the U.S. Yet our mere presence near the wall was enough for us to be stopped and questioned by CBP.
This is the reality that border communities have been facing for decades. Latine people are subject to suspicion for just existing in the borderlands. Some of the advocates shared experiences of being stopped constantly at CBP checkpoints and asked to prove their citizenship. Imagine living under that kind of surveillance as U.S. citizens, subject to this harassment simply because of outdated and racist views of who is or looks “American.” That’s the kind of “solution” that policymakers seeking additional authority for CBP are advocating for.
In contrast, when we visited San Diego to see what street releases looked like, we saw the challenges and the endurance of those looking to welcome new arrivals. Volunteers from various non-profit organizations greet those individuals CBP releases into transit hubs without explanation or support. During CBP processing, people can be separated from those who they were traveling with. While some need only wait for the next bus to arrive to be reunited with their family members or loved ones, others must come back the next day, or wait even longer. The volunteers do their best to provide comfort, empathy, and information to the people who have arrived, but they do so with very limited funding and capacity. The volunteers are doing their best to address the confusion of recent arrivals, while CBP merely exacerbates chaos.
The difference in these approaches and their effects shows that we should focus our attention on straightforward, humane, and welcoming policies that will help address the needs of border communities and new arrivals, like funding these volunteers and moving funds from enforcement to processing and humanitarian needs.
In addition, lawmakers should turn their attention to reforming our immigration laws so that they work for our communities, our families, and the realities of the modern world.
This is the only real solution: welcoming newcomers, changing our outdated laws, and making our immigration system work for new arrivals and long-standing communities alike.
The rhetoric around the border is an example of how certain voices want to manipulate Asian American sentiment for political gain. But remembering our history and understanding the facts on the ground reveals the truth of what we should do.
Your voice and your actions are important in seeing real solutions to current immigration challenges be implemented.
- Support the Welcome with Dignity campaign and find out how you can support newcomers in your neighborhood.
- Get involved with Value Our Families and call on the Biden Administration to recover lost visas and expand family reunification parole, instead of attacking asylum.
- Sign up to be a private or community sponsor with Welcome.US and Community Sponsorship Hub.
Remember: Asian Americans are all too familiar with what it feels like to be targeted based on racist ideas of who “belongs.” Drawing lines or scapegoating others does not make our communities safer. Uplifting our history and embracing the values of a nation of immigrants does. By advocating for a better immigration system — one that welcomes, instead of harms, newcomers — we are making our country better for our families, our loved ones, and the generations of new immigrants to come.
Martin Kim is the Director of Immigration Advocacy at Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC.
Paul Estuar is the Director of Litigation at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL).
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC has a mission to advance the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and to build and promote a fair and equitable society for all. Visit our website at advancingjustice-aajc.org.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL) is the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). Founded in 1983, AJSOCAL supports over 15,000 individuals and organizations annually. By offering free legal help, engaging in impact litigation, conducting crucial research, and advocating for policy change, AJSOCAL prioritizes the most vulnerable members of AAPI communities while fostering a robust advocacy for civil rights and social justice. Offices are in downtown Los Angeles and Orange County, with satellite offices in Sacramento, ensuring accessibility for all. www. AJSOCAL.org
