EDITORIAL: HOW MANY MORE?

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By Enrique Morones

 

October 1, 2009 (San Diego) – Today marks the 15th anniversary of the wall of death—the border wall of shame. Since October 1st 1994 and the launching of Operation Gatekeeper here in San Diego, thousands have died. Nobody knows the exact number: 5,000, 6,000, 10,000. How many more?





 

These are not numbers, these are human beings! How dare the U.S. government build a wall to kill people. How else can you describe it? It does not keep people out.  It does keep people in and IT KILLS PEOPLE. How many more?



 

Marco Antonio Villasenor, five years old, dies along wIth 18 other men (Victoria, Texas, 2003), Guadalupe Beltran burns to death, leaves four children without a mother (San Diego, California 2007), John and Jane Doe with plus 600 plus unidentified human beings, children, buried at Holtville Cemetery in Imperial Valley. How many more?



 

Today, someone will die, simply because they had a dream. A dream to have food on their table, is that a crime? These human beings, have no "legal" way to get into this country, there is no Statue of Liberty for them, no Ellis Island, no legal way for them to enter the country, no line for them to get into. So they are killed by Operation Gatekeeper. How many more?



 

Every day the administration in power tells us, "We must fix the broken immigration system, we will have humane immigration reform" and every day at least one more human being dies, waiting for the "promised" immigration reform. How many more?



 

NI UNA MUERTE MAS, REFORMA YA!



 

Enrique Morones is the founder of Border Angels (www.borderangels.org). The opinions expressed in this editorial reflect the views of its author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. If you wish to submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.


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