From the Border Report #8

On Sunday morning in Nogales, the border group I’m with met with a group of local residents from Nogales and Douglas, Arizona. Ed English, who is Latino, is a retired fire captain who has lived 37 years in Douglas. His 15-year-old daughter and her classmate and classmate’s father went on hunting trip 30 miles east of Douglas. They wandered off into leased public property where they were confronted at gun point with racial slurs (both girls are of Latin appearance). Turns out the man brandishing a fully automatic weapon and spewing foul language and racial slurs with Roger Barnett, a local rancher who is received publicity for his own private anti-immigrant vigilante efforts with his brother.

Ed English has tried to press charges against Barnett, but to no avail. The girls were frightened for their lives. The body of a 13 year old girl was found on Barnett’s property awhile back, but nothing resulted from an investigation. Seems that Barnett, who is very wealthy (he also owns a propane company) has friends in high places. He has boasted  that no one can touch him, and in fact he operates with impunity. FAIR is behind him. He has two fully equipped trucks (he and his brother drive out day and night on patrol for immigrants, with sensors; night vision goggles; border patrol caps (for sale in novelty sections of local gas stations), dressed in military fatigues with border patrol patches sewed on, and with guns loaded..

Another rancher Don Mackenzie, a Vietnam vet, calls Barnett “a racist bigot” who doesn’t represent the views of other ranchers in the area. Mackenzie’s ranch is 15 miles from the border, and migrants come through this area all the time. He thinks the border patrol is more intrusive than the migrants. Agents have driven in the middle of his ranch yard at 3 am for no good reason, making trails by driving their heavy 4-wheel drive vehicles relentless through what used to be pristine fields. Those tracks won’t go away for years.

Mackenzie has never had any problems with migrants. It takes an 18 mile hike to get to his place, where he has a water well. He knows they use the water well, and he doesn’t mind. They used to leave some trash, so he simply put a trash can by the well, and now the migrants who pass through use the trash can. He has seen some migrants with bloodied feet from walking without the right shoes. He feels that what we need is a rational border policy. Increasing militarization will not solve the problem; the solution has to come from a joint solution between the US and Mexico.

Mackenzie is also a substitute teacher at a local high school. He has seen border patrol agents stop students walking down the street just because they are Hispanic looking, and it turns out the students are US citizens.  He also often sees border patrol vehicles violating local traffic laws for no reason.

bh