Religion News Service: Press Releases

Religion News Service: Press Releases: "




MILITARIZATION OF THE U.S. MEXICO BORDER PUTS LIVES IN JEOPARDY

For more information, contact: Janis D. Shields, director, media and public relations, American Friends Service Committee, 215-241-7060; 302-545-6596 (cell)

PHILADELPHIA -- The American Friends Service Committee, an international social justice organization with national headquarters in Philadelphia, today announced its opposition to sending National Guard troops to the U.S. Mexico Border.

The Service Committee fears that placing National Guard troops on the border with Mexico will exacerbate the “state-of siege” mentality that has extended over the region since militarization of the region began in the name of immigration enforcement over a decade ago.

“When policing is done by soldiers, our communities become the enemy,” said Pedro Rios, interim co-director of the San Diego office of the American Friends Service Committee. “The killing of 17-year old high school student, Ezequiel Hernandez, by Marines along the Border proves how dangerous this could be.”

The Texas youth was shot to death in 1997 while herding his family’s goats after Marines patrolling the border determined that he fit the profile of a drug smuggler.

The use of deadly force by Border Patrol agents claims innocent lives each year, the group observes. In heavily Latino neighborhoods, racial profiling is rampant. Border communities face a litany of arbitrary detentions and arrests by the Border Patrol, the group maintains

The Service Committee stands with other immigrant rights organizations along the border that are standing in opposition to the “Goode Amendment” recently approved by the House of Representatives that was attached to the Defense Department fiscal year 2007 authorization bill. President Bush is expected to announce this new proposal during his address to the nation Monday evening.

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) supports the rights and dignity of all people, regardless of legal immigration status. Through its national initiative, Project Voice, the Service Committee seeks to strengthen the voices of immigrants and immigrant-led organizations in setting the national agenda for policy and human rights.

AFSC’s U.S. Mexico Border Program was created in 1977 to address economic imbalances and document systemic human rights abuses in employment, housing, education, services and law enforcement. AFSC has worked with rural and urban development programs in Mexico and with migrant farm workers in California since 1940.

A full statement can be found at the AFSC website at afsc.org

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The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.