At the Tijuana-San Diego border between Mexico and California on November 25, 2018, a “peaceful march by Central American migrants veered out of control . . . as hundreds of people tried to evade a Mexican police blockade and run toward a giant border crossing.”[1] In response, the U.S. Government shut down the border crossing in both directions and fired tear gas to push back migrants from the border fence. The American media made much of the use of tear gas, with convenient stories from migrants of their kids having been affected. To be sure, the suffering of innocent children is horrible, so at the very least the use of gas is debatable. Yet this focus came at the expense of another on the mentality and conduct of the adult migrants, including parents, largely from Honduras.
Migrants trying to evade a police blockade were not interested in respecting Mexican law. Additionally, an Associated Press reporter saw U.S. agents use tear gas after “some migrants attempted to penetrate several points along the border. Mexico’s Milenio TV showed images of migrants climbing over fences and peeling back metal sheeting to enter [California].”[2] A migrant from Honduras reported seeing “migrants opening a small hole in concertia wire at a gap on the Mexican side of a levee, at which point U.S. agents fired tear gas at them.”[3] Missed in defining the main question as whether the use of gas was necessary or appropriate is the point that a significant number of migrants felt free to evade laws of other countries, and yet while appealing for lawful asylum. Whereas the Mexican government had enabled to law-breaking at Mexico’s southern border, the U.S. Government said no and meant it. Like enabled alcoholics used to manipulating people, running up against the wall of unmanipulatable people can trigger frustration and anger such that even outright force is used. To force oneself into another country over its objections indicates an attitude that presumes that law does not apply to the person.
Living in Phoenix at the time, I witnessed a lot of citizens and legal residents ignoring the law so blatantly that I had the sense that the underlying mentality is one of not being subject to the law. Watching people cross the light-rail tracks even to climb on the train platforms and even climb over moving freight-train cars to cross railroad tracks, not to mention crossing streets between intersections even in traffic, I could discern an arrogance in presuming to be above the law. Interestingly, though police and security guards go too far in trying to intimidate even law-abiding people, rarely had I seen a person committing a blatant act be stopped and held accountable. Once while approaching a light-rain platform, I saw a man run through traffic and cross the tracks to reach the platform in time to catch the oncoming light-rail train. On the train, I mentioned this to one of the several security guards in the car what I had witnessed and who the man is. “The street is not our property,” a guard told me, “so we can’t do anything.” Such convenient impotence! “But he crossed your tracks,” I retorted. Even though the guard had seen even that himself, he did not answer me. What an interesting stance for a security guard to have, especially as the guards presume to be entitled to cluster so much on a car as to intimidate paid customers.
So I contend that the main issue concerning the 3,000 migrants who had been unrestrained by Mexico to be able to reach the border with California is one of attitude toward the law—even valuing the law, even of another country. Considering the size of Mexico, moreover, it is interesting that so many migrants were able to make it to the California border so quickly. Perhaps there is not as much respect for law in the state of Mexico as there are in the U.S. states. Indeed, what unifies diverse populations in the U.S. is in large part an agreement to respect the law. For migrants who have demonstrated in action a mentality (or set of values) that is antithetical to what the U.S. stands for, barring entry (except for legitimate asylum) is arguably prudent as well as ethical. For as I witnessed especially in Arizona, the U.S. at the time had more than enough people without respect for the law. Would it be prudent to add even more? Eventually, the cultures of the states would change, with new default attitudes of law resulting.
[1]Maya Averbuch and Elisabeth Markin, “Migrants in Tijuana Run to U.S. Border, but Fall Back in Face of Tear Gas,” The New York Times, November 26, 2018, italics added.
[2] Christopher Sherman, “U.S. Border Patrol Launches Tear Gas At Migrants Over Attempt To Breach Fence,” The Associated Press, November 26, 2018.
[3] Ibid.
