No Borders and Binaries

Lets set aside the larger issues concerning the construction of the $49 billion border fence along U.S.-Mexico; pretend for a moment that debates over efficiency, cost, the environment, property rights, detrimental political and symbolic messages just do not exist when it comes to this mammoth task. How much sense does it make to build a wall across a college campus that would split the UT-Brownsville campus between two countries?

Maybe our immigration officials have finally come of age. Maybe they are thinking ahead to a smaller world with increased communication between different cultures and an education with more global influence. Maybe we can share the UT-Brownsville campus with Mexico, teach half the courses in Spanish, provide joint daycare at the university, and promote soccer in the United States while we teach the Mexican nationals about American football.

No, no such thing. In fact, Rep. Tom ‘border hawk’ Tancredo stated that if the residents of Brownsville were so staunchly opposed to the fence, perhaps it should simply be built north of Brownsville. In other words, dissent against building a wall across the middle of a university campus means we are un-American and don’t deserve to live in the United States. Already, the border fence is not being built on the border but 1 mile north of the Rio Grande.

Thankfully, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen has stalled this insanity till July 31 at least. Even after filing documents with the federal judge that building a fence across the campus was the ONLY viable alternative, Hanen ordered Homeland Security to work with UT-Brownsville and figure out alternatives to building the wall across the campus.

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