Fourteen die crossing u.$.-Mexico border

On Sunday May 20, twenty-six men and teenage boys began to 
cross the desert from Mexico into Arizona. Five days later, 
fourteen of them were dead from exposure.

According to reports, smugglers misled the men into thinking 
the crossing would be short and water would be available. 
Instead, they had to walk more than 50 miles in 115 degree 
heat with no water. 

"Have you ever seen a mummy from ancient Egypt? That gives 
you an idea," said a doctor who treated survivors. "They 
looked shriveled up." Some of the survivors will likely 
suffer lifelong kidney problems.

More and more people have tried to cross into the united 
$tates via the southwestern Arizona desert since "Operation 
Gatekeeper" shut down crossings in California and Texas.(1) 
Over 500 people have died crossing the border -- most of 
exposure -- since "Gatekeeper" started in 1994. From October 
1999 to September 2000, 106 people died in Arizona alone.(2)

"Nobody should be surprised by these deaths," said Claudia 
Smith with the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, 
who has campaigned against Gatekeeper. "They are entirely 
foreseeable consequences of moving the migrant traffic out 
of the urban areas and into the most remote and dangerous 
areas."(3)

The huge economic disparities between the united $tates and 
oppressed nations around the world -- and the fact that many 
employers here depend on relatively cheap, undocumented 
labor -- drive workers to risk their lives to cross into the 
united $tates. 

In fact, the border is a tool to keep the vast majority of 
workers in a situation of most brutal exploitation --
outside of u.$. borders, under Amerikan-supported death-
squad governments. Even those undocumented immigrants who do 
manage to get into the united $tates face brutal 
exploitation in sweatshops; their undocumented status is 
used to keep their wages low.

MIM is not alone in its belief that workers and their 
families should not have to risk their lives to look for 
work here in the united $tates. That is why we launched a 
petition campaign to stop "Operation Gatekeeper" and open 
the u.$. border. We encourage readers to go to 
www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/cal/OpenBorder.htm or write to 
MIM to endorse the petition or start collecting signatures 
themselves.

Here is the text of MIM's petition: 

Open the U.S. border! 

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service's military-
style "Operation Gatekeeper" has killed over 600 Mexican 
migrants. This is part of the systematic violence the U.S. 
government uses to restrict people's free movement. The U.S. 
Border separates families, communities, and nations. It also 
keeps Third World workers and farmers under regimes where 
wage rates are drastically depressed through violent 
repression -- this allows the United States to make huge 
profits off of its investments abroad. We the undersigned 
call for an end to "Operation Gatekeeper" and an end to 
policies restricting people's free movement across the 
border. 

Notes: 1. MIM Notes 233, 1 May 2001 2. Associated Press, 24 
May 2001. 3. Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2001.