Cecile Lumer of the Citizens for Border Solutions speaks Sunday in Naco, Ariz., at a demonstration against the border fence. (Beatrice Richardson•Herald/Review)
Posted on 12/17/2007 4:57:07 PM PST by SandRat
NACO, Ariz. — Approximately 40 bundled-up protesters and a few of their pets gathered several hundred yards east of the Naco port of entry between the United States and Mexico on Sunday to speak out against the border fence that continues its way west through Cochise County.
“I was down here about a month ago,” said Greta Anderson, formerly of Bisbee. “And I almost cried when I saw that it was only about a quarter-mile from the river.”
Anderson is a volunteer with the Sierra Club in Tucson and an environmental activist.
On the chilly and blustery afternoon, Citizens for Border Solutions used a “window” in the fence to run their electical cords into Naco, Sonora, to power the sound system from a house just on the other side.
“We’re expecting some of our Mexican friends to join us later on that side so it will be a true binational protest,” said Cecile Lumer of the group.
Lumer said that the fence is now part way across the San Pedro River and that from Douglas to its current state of construction, the county has 45 miles of continuous fence.
Later, county supervisor Paul Newman would say that the fence not only keeps Mexicans out, “it keeps us locked in.”
Signs placed up against the wall and held by various protestors carried messages such as, “The wall terrorizes Nature,” “Looking for work is not a crime. Don’t scapegoat immigrants,” and “Wall $20,000,000, Ladder $20.”
A tall ladder had been leaned against the wall to emphasize the point.
In the afternoon’s opening remarks, Lumer said, “We who live here are not happy with this wall. It divides families, friends and our communities.”
She decried its interference with wildlife migration pathways and said it was contributing to the militarization of the borderlands.
The prospect of increased military equipment and members of the armed forces in the area would no doubt be considered good news by the many organizations and individuals who support stricter border enforcement and more streamlined, faster procedures to return captured illegals to their home country.
But there was no counter-demonstration on Sunday, and the Citizens for Border Solutions had the cold air and the media cameras all to themselves.
Seth Foley, the vicar of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Bisbee, called the fence an “impediment to fellowship and community” and said that policy makers were attempting to dictate people’s relationships and connections.
To whistles and applause, Foley told his listeners, “This wall will not divide us. We will not go away.”
Newman expressed concern that with no comprehensive immigration reform passed by Congress, “the states are acting,” and he feared that local law enforcement agencies all along the border would be encouraged to become the eyes and ears of the Border Patrol.
He saved his sharpest criticism for the fence itself, calling it “the most dysutopian structure I’ve ever seen in my life.” He said that political leaders in Arizona didn’t protect the river, and he expressed horror that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was able to “just go through the river. It was almost maniacal. Really disgusting.”
Newman added that he fears the wall will be with us for a long time but hopes to see the day when harmony and labor agreements are established that would permit it to come down.
Protesters came from as far away as the Tohono O’odham nation and Tucson.
Ingeborg and Richard Calabro of Green Valley said they are recently returned from the Mexican state of Chiapas, where they visited with villagers who are desperately poor and in need of help. The Calabros are active with the No More Deaths humanitarian organization, and Richard is a member of the Samaritans, who search the desert for people in need of help.
“I was born in Bisbee,” said elderly Ralph Sproule. “I’m half Mexican and half Irish, and nobody’s going to tell me I can’t speak Spanish anywhere and anytime I want to. Heck, if I could speak Chinese, I’d speak that too. It’s guaranteed right here,” he added, indicating his well-marked-up copy of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
Lumer spoke of the Migrant Resource Center, a project of the Citizens for Border Solutions in Bisbee and the Iglesia del Camino in Naco, Sonora. The center is being created to provide services to illegal immigrants who have been deported to Mexico by authorities.
“When they send people back, it’ll be on the left,” she said.
In her formal remarks, Lumer expressed sadness at the loss of the traditional cross-border fiestas that for years had taken place about a mile west of the port of entry.
“We would share food and music, and play volleyball across the international boundary,” she recalled. “It was wonderful. The last one was in April. Now the wall is up and we can’t do it.”
Herald/Review reporter Cindy Skalsky can be reached at 515-4611 or by e-mail at cindy.skalsky@svherald.com.
Cecile Lumer of the Citizens for Border Solutions speaks Sunday in Naco, Ariz., at a demonstration against the border fence. (Beatrice Richardson•Herald/Review)
Open Border Loons
Loco música
(Loony Tunes)
These a-holes are so wrong on so many different things they say and do, it’s hard to know where to start taking their asinine arguments apart.
Send that Open Borden loon and her associates to some of the areas where her precious illegals have trashed the environment that the Sierra Club tree-hugging types are so protective of.
Actions have consequences.
Maybe if Ms. Lumer had of encouraged her Mexican friends to find a legal way to stay in the U.S. and not become international criminals....then maybe a border fence would not be necessary.
I hope Ms. Lumer realizes that a fence is a whole lot kinder solution than a .45 bullet.
“Wall $20,000,000, Ladder $20.”
They are right about that. L0L
They’ve been to the San Pedro River a.k.a. Illegal Freeway Trash Dump and don’t care; except to sue Ft Huachuca under the ESA for allegedly over pumping the aquifer fed by the San Pedro River.
Apply to the United Nations for your passport and residence status... Oh, right, no one's a citizen of the United Nations. How stupid of me to forget while reading leftist dribble.
That's what all the open border crowd says !
“Wall $20,000,000, Ladder $20.”
“ 5.56mm $10.99 per 20!”
LOL yourself mylife......
Let's jettison this subversive ding-a-ling.
20? I got 2k rds
I see an electoral defeat in Paul Newman's future.
“We would share food and music, and play volleyball across the international boundary,” she recalled. “It was wonderful. The last one was in April. Now the wall is up and we can’t do it.”
Oh! So you can't use an international border for a vollyball net anymore? Good! I swear, I cannot fathom the idiocy of some of these freaks.
Nope, his voter base is in Hippie Communeville Bisbee.
She looks like a cross between Phil Spector and Keith Richards
I was thinking the same thing! (but in .308)
Now we need some photos of Hunter’s double fence and the statistics on the drop in illegals (and drugs and crime) in San Diego after the double fense was put in.
I remember the leftists celebrating when they broke up Maricopa County that way...
They are at large but he always seems to get just enough to win the #3 seat in the race for 3 seats.
“ 5.56mm $10.99 per 20!”
just a generic walmart price to make my point.....
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