Rev. Robin Hoover, Ph.D

Sahar and I spoke with Rev. Robin Hoover, president of Humane Borders. The following is a summary of our notes.

• Tactical infrastructure at the border seems to be nothing more than "research and development for low-intensity warfare." Interpret that however you wish.
• Despite the construction of the new border fence and the increase of border patrol agents by a factor of 3 in Arizona, illegal migration has remained relatively constant between 1993 and 2008. Therefore, the impact of the border fences is more ecological than tactical.
• The number of apprehensions at the border, a statistic used by the government to record the flow of undocumented migrants, is unreliable in comparison to the number of death certificates processed by medical examiners on the American and Mexican sides of the border.
• One human consequence of the construction of a taller border fence is an increase in jumper injuries (i.e. twisted ankles, broken femurs.) Also, the extension of the fence farther into the desert results in an increase in the distance between recovered bodies and roads as migration occurs in rougher and less developed terrain.
• Illegal migration cannot be regulated without meeting the needs of the migrants first. This is, above all else, a human rights issue.
• If the Department of Homeland Security continues to build new fences along the Texas border, residents being directly affected will likely react in unexpected and destructive ways. "Bubba's gonna have a C-4 party."
• One cause of the different reactions to the border fence in Arizona and Texas is that 86% of Arizona's border is public land, while much of the land along Texas's border is privately owned.
• 42% of migrant deaths in Arizona occur on Native American reservations.
• The three values upon which the US is built are effectiveness, efficiency, and equity. With this in mind, you can build a cheaper and more effective fence, but how do you make one that is more equitable? You cannot do your job as an architect without engaging in a discourse on equity!