COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
by Patrisia Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez

INTERNAL 'BORDER' CHECKPOINTS IMPEDE CITIZEN TRAVEL

On the way back to Albuquerque, N.M., from recent book signings in Los
Angeles and Tucson, Ariz., one of us (Roberto) was detained at an internal
"border" checkpoint, while three U.S. Border Patrol and two Drug
Enforcement agents took apart our car, 20 miles north of Las Cruces, N.M.
When asked for an explanation as to the cause of their actions, one of the
agents said that traveling on the I-10 and I-25 interstate highways was
cause for suspicion.

We are both U.S. citizens, and what we write about regularly has happened
to us. We have long written that the U.S.-Mexican border is not on the
internationally recognized boundary; rather, it follows those of us with
red-brown skin wherever we go. What we have learned is that the freedom of
movement and the right to travel unimpeded by U.S. citizens apparently
doesn't apply in the entire country.

A quick look at any U.S. map shows that Tucson and Las Cruces are not on
the border and that highway I-10 to I-25 is the most direct route between
Tucson and Albuquerque. Absent probable cause and articulable facts,
traveling between two U.S. cities should not be grounds for suspicion of
any kind. Also, U.S. citizens who are not traveling to and from any border
should not be subjected to searches by internal border checkpoints. This is
fundamentally different from inspecting motorists who come from the border
- -- a right that courts have upheld.

U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey is calling for an increase of border patrol
officers, from 7,000 to 20,000, and for more miles of high-tech fences
along the border. McCaffrey, incidentally, is not the immigration czar.

On one hand, we're being told that the multibillion-dollar war against
immigrants -- exemplified by its various highly-touted dragnet operations
- -- has effectively sealed the border. Then, we are told that we need even
more agents and more high-tech barriers. And if this wasn't enough, recent
raids throughout the Southwest have begun to target legal immigrants with
multiple drunk-driving convictions. What's next? Targeting naturalized
citizens with speeding tickets?

McCaffrey's clarion call also creates the impression that the nation's drug
problem will somehow be solved by more border patrol agents. In actuality,
many of the drugs consumed in the United States are either manufactured or
grown here or come in through places of entry other than the U.S.-Mexican
border.

The net result of these wars is that the "border" has been defined to
include U.S. cities that are not actually on the border. Perhaps politicos
in Washington D.C. are not aware that their immigration and drug wars are
having a deleterious effect on U.S. citizens and have given rise to many
costly lawsuits. As a result of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the
U.S. Border Patrol has broad powers within 100 miles of U.S. borders and
border equivalent zones (ports of entry), yet the politicos that gave them
this authority probably never envisioned that this would impede the freedom
of movement of U.S. citizens.

Also, the idea that border patrol agents simply operate within 100 miles of
the border is also fiction. They are no strangers to all parts of the
country -- including states such as Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska
- -- many hundreds of miles from any border.

The solutions to immigration problems can be found at a negotiating table
- -- dealing with it as an economic phenomenon rather than as a criminal
matter. To blur the distinction between immigration and drug-smuggling
serves no purpose other than to inflame the prejudices of those who will
not be happy until there's a moat around the United States.

The irony in all these immigration and drug "wars" is that aside from
abuses against immigrants, it is the rights of U.S. citizens that are being
assaulted on a daily basis. As an example, a friend, California-born Angela
Acosta, who works for the Willie Velasquez Institute in Los Angeles, says
that she and her family have been traveling from Colton, Calif., to Las
Cruces, N.M., regularly since she was a child. To this day, they are
continually subjected to humiliating inspections. "You can feel the fear
when the 'migra' (immigration agents) board the buses. Because we're dark,
we're suspect."

The solution is quite simple: Move the checkpoints back to the border or to
places where the free flow of interstate traffic is not impeded.

Copyright 1998 Universal Press Syndicate

* Both writers are authors of Gonzales/Rodriguez: Uncut & Uncensored (ISBN
0-918520-22-3 UC Berkeley, Ethnic Studies Library, Publications Unit.
Rodriguez is the author of Justice: A Question of Race (Cloth ISBN
0-927534-69-X paper ISBN 0-927534-68-1 Bilingual Review Press) and the
antibook, The X in La Raza II and Codex Tamuanchan: On Becoming Human. They
can be reached at PO BOX 7905, Albq NM 87194-7905, 505-242-7282 or
XColumn@aol.com Gonzales's direct line is 505-248-0092 or PatiGonzaJ@aol.com

Checked-by: Richard Lake