Immigrants Targeted Coming and Going
By Gerri Elder
Immigration is a hot topic right now, especially because it is a presidential election year. There are plenty of pro-immigration and anti-immigration rallies, proposed immigration legislation and immigration raids in the news, and many Americans are concerned about border security.
When people speak about border security, it is mostly assumed that tightened borders refer to restrictions and scrutiny of the people attempting to enter the United States. However, a recent story in the Los Angeles Times points out that searches of vehicles near the Mexican border in San Diego are being conducted and illegal immigrants on their way back to Mexico are being apprehended as part of a federal crackdown.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have been setting up random checkpoints on southbound Interstate 5 near the Tijuana-San Diego border, boarding buses headed for Mexico and detaining people who do not have proper documentation. All vehicles in all lanes of traffic are stopped at these checkpoints.
Most of the illegal immigrants who do not have criminal records, outstanding warrants or immigration violations on record are dragged off of buses or pulled from their vehicles before being released after a few hours. A record of these illegal immigrants is made, and they are returned to Mexico.
As incredible as it is that federal resources are being used to detain illegal immigrants who are on their way out of the country, U.S. Customs and Border Protection defends the use of the checkpoints and says that even if an immigrant is leaving the U.S., the agency must make a record of their illegal status to prevent them from trying to return. These efforts are being praised by anti-illegal immigration activists and some lawmakers.
Immigration rights activists complain that these checkpoints are an intimidation tactic and a sign of the growing anti-immigrant sentiment in the country. Due to the poor economy and the reluctance of employers to continue to give them work, many illegal immigrants who have been working in the U.S. are now forced to return to Mexico. As these immigrants return to Mexico, immigration authorities arrest them and create a record of them being in the U.S. illegally to deter them from attempting to come back into the country and to send a message to other illegal immigrants who may occasionally make brief trips to Mexico to visit their families.
Random checkpoints near the border are not new. They have been an ongoing effort since the September 11 attacks. In the past, inspectors have been looking for weapons, fugitives, stolen vehicles, drugs or other contraband. However, in the past few months, illegal immigrants have also been targeted.
It is estimated that several hundred illegal immigrants have already been arrested at the San Diego checkpoints. Immigration authorities seem to be sending a clear message to illegal immigrants that they can't win, no matter what they do. Not only are they subjected to daybreak and workplace raids, immigration detention centers and deportation if they attempt to live and work in the U.S., now they are also subjected to arrests for trying to return home.