WATCH THE VIDEO:
Watching Obama’s June 19 speech in Berlin, it was impossible not to think of the abysmal gap between the high principals of compassion and freedom he espoused at the site of that former wall and the death-dealing attitude of the U.S. government at the wall constructed between the United States and its neighbor to the south. That same week Senators Corker and Hoeven presented a “border security” amendment to the immigration reform bill that would require 20,000 more border agents and 700 miles more fence along the Mexican border, and cost taxpayers some $3.2 billion for war-zone equipment like what is used by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Americas Program made this four-minute video that shows the stark contrast between the images from our own border and the empty words of a speech given thousands of miles from home. As Obama speaks of peace and justice, Congress prepares to load a bill meant to fix our broken immigration system with contracts for a defense/security complex addicted to the “perpetual war” he rejects.
We know militarizing the border makes no one safer. We know that hundreds of migrating men, women and children die as a direct result of “border security” measures every year. We know there is a better, more humane way to live together.