Border Communities Demand Justice

Grassroots organizations from the southwest US and northern states of Mexico affiliated with the Southwest Network for Environmental & Economic Justice converge to demand justice on both sides of the border at the2 ^nd Border Peoples Alternative Summit in Austin, Texas. Our letter to the governors:

August 23, 2006

Esteemed Governors:

While you are meeting behind closed doors, discussing the future of the border region, we, the people, communities, migrants, workers, and indigenous nations of the border are living with the devastating effects of the border policies that you support. We are the ones affected by your support of international trade agreements like NAFTA, the militarization of the border, and the criminalization of immigrants. These policies don’t work! We demand an end to band-aid approaches to much more fundamental problems. Your so-called solutions have brought nothing but death, environmental disasters, and misery to our communities and workplaces. It is time you listened to the voice of the people, we live in these communities and we have something to say about how they should be run.

We, the 2^nd Border Peoples Alternative Summit, call on the 24^th Annual Border Governors Conference to pass resolutions calling for the following:

The removal of failed border enforcement policies known as Operations Gatekeeper, Hold the Line, Rio Grande, and Safeguard, which have included the construction of walls, stadium lights, drag roads, and checkpoints

• An end to the deaths of migrants along the U.S.-México border
• An immediate halt to the construction of walls between the U.S. and México
• The immediate removal of the U.S. National Guard from the U.S./México border
• An investigation of the effects of border enforcement policies on border communities, particularly from an environmental and health perspective
• The creation of an independent entity, with full investigatory powers, to look into allegations of abuse by law enforcement officials under the Department of Homeland Security
• An alternative to NAFTA that protects the environment, workers rights, and human rights

We appreciate the attention given to this document in hopes that these resolutions are included in the work of the working groups developed within the framework of the Border Governors Conference. We demand justice for the communities in the border region. With your support we can achieve it.

News Coverage
News 8 Austin
CBS 42 - Two different groups discuss border issues