Those of us who have long been familiar with the Mexico-United States border know that today’s xenophobia spurred by the humanitarian crisis has a long history. It has been with us for at least 70 years.
In 1990 on assignment for Time, I traveled to the San Ysidro-Tijuana stretch of the border. White people alarmed and angered by what they saw as an uncontrolled influx of undocumented immigrants were regularly holding rallies called “Light Up the Border.” Cars would line up facing Mexico.
This excerpt from book provides a glimpse into the event.
Their crimson bumper stickers proclaim WE
WANT ORDER ON OUR BORDER, a demand that nearby US Border patrol agents work hard to enforce.
Some of the 800 officers, who nightly nab upwards of 1,500 immigrants in this sector alone, buzz by in spotter choppers or patrol in four-wheel-drive vehicles, while others survey the area from hilltops.
At nightfall, the protesters suddenly switch on headlights and hand-held spotlights to illuminate a narrow stretch of the boundary. Tonight’s “Light Up
the Border” rally is one in a series of monthly anti-immigrant demonstrations held in a place where millions of Latin Americans and others have crossed the
hills and canyons that feed into San Diego.
Four years after passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act, the human flow it was intended to stanch is on the rise. This year an estimated 1 million foreigners will illegally enter the United
States, most of them across the Mexican border. The protesters, drawn by anger tinged with xenophobia,
speak darkly of the immigrants. They reject the conventional wisdom that the aliens are benign job seekers who do work that Americans disdain and that
generally benefits the US economy. “We have nothing against Mexicans,” says John Machan, a local courier. “Many of them are hard workers, and there
should be a way for them to work . . . but then go back home. A lot of the others don’t come to work. They
steal, break into people’s homes, bring drugs.” San Diego police say they have no evidence that illegal aliens commit more crimes than the general population.
Loren Flemming, himself an immigrant from Calgary, says he has joined the demonstration to denounce a double standard. “Canadians can’t come in
the way these people do,” he claims. “They get on welfare just by showing up at the office.”
Roger Hedgecock, a former San Diego mayor, uses his popular call-in radio show to endorse the protests.
He also attends the demonstrations. “We want respect for American laws,” says Hedgecock. “Mexicans are violating our laws.” He and others demand inmediate but unspecified congressional action. Judging by the phone calls Hedgecock receives, many San Diegans share his dismay. Says Hedgecock: “I’ve had
callers in the construction industry say, ‘Gosh, I used to be a drywall hanger, and now there are no English-speaking drywall hangers in San Diego County. They all speak Spanish, and I’m out of a job.’”
Behind the angry words and glaring headlights,
many Hispanics and other residents detect a resurgence of nativism. It is no coincidence, they say, that partisans are divided roughly along racial lines. While no one suggests a formal link, the protests coincide with a surge in ethnic tensions and racially motivated crimes,
both locally and nationally. “There’s a potential for violence in these demonstrations,” says Bill Robinson, a
longtime spokesman for the San Diego police department. “What we’re seeing is political conservatives protesting against people who are hungry and looking
for work.”
https://www.amazon.com/We-Were-Always-Here-Americans/dp/1558859136
Ricardo Chavira Chicano 