Todd Miller, Author of Border Patrol Nation
http://toddwmiller.wordpress.com/
Segment 1: Todd Miller. Todd Miller has researched and written about U.S.-Mexican border issues for more than 15 years. He has worked on both sides of the border for BorderLinks in Tucson, Arizona, and Witness for Peace in Oaxaca, Mexico. Between Tucson and the Buffalo/Niagara Falls region of New York State where he grew up, Todd has spent the majority of my life close to the U.S. international boundary, south and north. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Tom Dispatch, Mother Jones, The Nation, CounterPunch, Upside Down World, The Providence Journal, Guernica, Al Jazeera English, NACLA Report on the Americas, and Common Dreams, among other places. Todd writes on border and immigration issues for NACLA Report on the Americas and its blog “Border Wars”. Todd’s first book, Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Homeland Security, has just come out.
Todd’s personal journey was influenced by his grandparents who frequented Mexico. This inspired him to move to Mexico as a young adult learning the culture and emmersed himself in the language. The more important lesson he learned was by living outside the country, he began to get the perspective from outside the borders. This jarred into his soul and led him to move to Tucson and has been working on border issues in many capacities (non-profit). He was able to witness the changes on the border and on the border lands.
Doug and Todd discuss why this concern of border control for the US.
Segement 2: Unaccompanied Minors. The children have swamped the immigration courts recently. The cause of this is the recent spike in gang and drug related violence in Central America and children fleeing. To prevent Central America from coming in to Mexico is the State of Mexico is building border controls to prevent Central Americans from coming into Mexico. US dollars help fund the border deficiencies. This segment delves into the causes and the attempt to manage the influx for migrants coming into Mexico and the States.
Segment 3: Free trade agreement. We have seen it for many decades. Mexicans coming into the states to work and send money to their families in Mexico. This has been found to help the economy in Mexico but has hurt small farmers in Mexico because the farmers north have flourished with labor help. Many small towns in Mexico have turned into ghostowns because the dependence from the money flow from the states in the north has had a negative effect on these people.
Todd gets more detailed about the Mexican Government and the citizens who live there.
Segment 4: Borderline. In Todd’s writings, he is critical and concerned about the build up of customs and the border. From 1994 to present border patrol has been explosive compared to we had before. Even up to the early 1990, it was an after thought with about 4000 agents. It was not given the importance that is given now. In this segment, Todd gets more detailed on the border patrol nation.
To here this interview, please click http://wsradio.com/101614-border-patrol-nation/ .