PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Feb. 1-Feb. 8, 2008
Swimming away from la migra, Rio Grande/Rio Bravo, El Paso-Juarez
Immigration. Swim, drive, crawl. People gravitate to do what they need to do and making them do any of the aforementioned things, puts their lives at risk and only enriches those who benefit from the exploitation of others.
This woman was attempting to cross the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo.
I don’t know why. To visit? To work? I don’t know.
La Migra, the Border Patrol came and chased her back to the Mexican side. The current in this river is fierce and unpredictable. Life threatening. Every year bodies are dragged from this river, victims of this same journey. One of the border Patrol’s favorite PR releases is about how their agents saved people from drowning. There’s one every year.
I don’t doubt that is true. What they don’t mention, what is never in a press release, is that the very same agents chase people into dangerous situations, holding the law of the International Boundary high above the law of human compassion, reason or, even, effectiveness.
Do the American people really want to force people into deserts, chase people into turbulent waters, exploit people, physically and financially, just so they can have cheaper services and products? Do we really want that?
I don’t.
That’s my sister in that river. All I can offer her is to make a photo, tell you about her situation and hope our people will, somehow, start thinking, remember that she was, at one time or another, pretty much, us.
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Comment by damfoto
# February 2, 2008,
Bruce, my brother, us, your photos are so powerful but your words are as much so. Never stop this. Please. What you say is as important as what you show.
D