DIALOGUE ABOUT THE BORDER AND IMMIGRATION

Minutemen currently patrolling the San Diego-Mexico border in Campo are part of an historical presence of vigilantism along the international border. Anglo-American undocumented immigrants, since 1848, have been propelled by a patriotic zeal known as Manifest Destiny to “protect” the United States from people they view as foreign invaders. Sentiments of intense disdain towards Mexicans and Latinos have often been expressed as dislike, blind hatred , racism , and physical persecution . Anglo-Americans believe they secured rights to land through conquest and racial superiority. They replaced Spanish for English languages, Indigenous/Mexican/Spanish laws for English laws, and superimposed Anglo-American values and culture over Mexican. Military force was a weapon of conquest. Now they argue Mexicans are the "illegal aliens."

During the 1830s, Anglo-Americans illegally invaded the border into Mexico chasing runaway slaves who crossed into Mexico seeking freedom. The infamous Texas Ranges (rinches de la Kineña) retaliated against Mexicans countless times during the 19th and 20th centuries. They tortured Mexicans and killed them in cold blood to protect the interests of merchants and ranchers along the border. In 1870s, a war broke out in Lincoln County, New Mexico targeting hundreds of Mexicans. In Arizona, hostilities towards Mexicans broke out in 1872 when a group of Anglo-Americans took the law onto its own hands hunting Mexicans. In Tombstone, Arizona Anglo-Americans organized raids against defenseless Mexicans communities. The shooting of Mexican women and children was commonplace. In California, Bear Flaggers instilled fear and terror in Mexican communities. Vigilante groups formed throughout California to keep Mexicans under control and to squelch resistance movements . Lynching of Mexicans became commonplace (linchocracia). The list of oppressive measures and assaults against Mexicans by common Anglo-Americans goes on.

When Mexicans organized resistance and social protest to counteract oppression and violence, they were labeled bandits and criminals. The portrayals of individuals like Juna “Cheno” Cortina, Tiburcio Vasquez, Gregorio Cortez, and Joaquin Murrieta clearly illustrate differing opinions about their role Mexican activits in border history. To Mexicans these persons were heroes who stood up to protect their communities while to Anglos they were savage criminals who had to hunted, imprisoned, or killed. Mexicans organized and defended themselves in various ways: armed rebellions, protests, written manifestations, organizing political parties, forming unions and other support organizations. From 1855 through 1859, El Clamor Publico, published in Los Angeles by Francisco P. Ramirez, began publishing voices of Mexicans. He was a champion of Mexicans’ rights. The editor was targeted by Anglo-Americans because of his views. Anglo-Europeans continue to live in fear of a Mexican uprising to reclaim their lands and rights.

Nowadays, Anglo-Americans unleash their racism and classism by labeling Mexicans undocumented immigrants. Contemporary racism is justified through modern manifest destiny's belief in closing or "protecting our borders" from an invasion of people they view as "foreign invaders." This faulty discourse, however, fails to acknowledge who the "real" "illegal aliens" are (Europeans who invaded the Americas after 1492).

The efforts to "protect our borders" extends beyond the actual fence and it affects all Mexicans and Latinos in the United States, regardless of immigration status. The issue of immigration is a complicated international phenomenon that needs to be addressed as such, not through vigilantism and civilians taking the law into their own hands. That was common practice during the 19th and early 20th centuries when Texas Rangers and Arizona Rangers, for example, acted as the ultimate law enforcers. I'd like to think the United States is more sophisticated in its implementation of laws and the Constitution, than to permit militias to do "official" government work. They Minutemen indeed expose a contradiction: They continually argue they are "enforcing" immigration laws; however, they are breaking constitutional laws (immigration is under federal jurisdiction), and most importantly, human rights laws coded in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other United Nations human rights instruments.

The contradictions inherent in vigilantism are woven into the history of relations between Mexico and the United States. Anglo-Americans have always faced the dilemma: they do not want Mexicans as equal citizens (or even unequal) ; however, they need Mexicans as a workforce. Hence, Mexican-Anglo relations, characterized by bitter conflict, resistance, and accommodation, during the last 150 years have been a byproduct of a legacy of conquest and imperialism , deeply rooted in struggles over land and resources.

While Anglos have dismissed Mexicans’ legal claims to the lands that belonged to their ancestors, Mexicans insist on nothing less than humane treatment for themselves and their children. Relegated to a subordinate status, and facing disparate treatment in U.S. society, they continue to organize and resist the spiritual and cultural conquest.

The challenge continues to seek and achieve mediation and resolution to transcend over a century of conflict and antagonism. The Minutemen are opening historical wounds that bleed and refuse to heal.


Arcela Nunez-Alvarez
e-mail:: anunez@csusm.edu