Group Plans to ‘Close’ Ariz.-Mexico Border

Riverside activists on Wednesday announced plans to discourage border crossings on May 1 between Douglas, Ariz., and Agua Prieta, Mexico, to protest the Minuteman Project and illustrate how the economies of U.S. border towns depend on the Mexican people.

Officials in both cities criticized the plan. The Douglas mayor said his city had been “prostituted,� first by the Minutemen -- a citizen brigade that since April 1 has reported people illegally entering the United States to federal border agents -- and now by a group that opposes the project.

“It’s frustrating to have outsiders bring their tensions here,� said Police Chief Charlie Austin.

The Riverside group intends to rally in Agua Prieta on May 1 and station volunteers in Mexico who, for six to eight hours, will ask drivers not to cross the border, said Armando Navarro, an ethnic studies professor at UC Riverside, at a press conference in San Bernardino’s La Plaza Park.

“The object of our effort will be to literally close the border,� he said, flanked by about 25 supporters who spoke to reporters in English and Spanish.

The Minutemen “represent a growing wave of bigotry and racism aimed at our community,� Navarro said. “As they grow, we will grow.�

National Alliance for Human Rights is counting on the participation of hundreds of protesters.

The group expects to focus attention on illegal immigration and the Minutemen, several hundred activists who wrapped up their patrol Wednesday. Officials have said the area west of Douglas is the country’s busiest illegal crossing point, and some smugglers have shuffled their clients into Texas.

Civil Homeland Defense, a group from Tombstone, Ariz., affiliated with the Minutemen, said a handful of members would continue to monitor the border. One volunteer called the Agua Prieta demonstration “misguided.�

“I’m not sure how blocking legal commerce is an effective tool,� said Grey Deacon on Wednesday. “I don’t think people [driving across the border] will be impressed. They’re following the laws of both countries.�

Douglas, a 6-square-mile town with about 18,000 people, depends on shoppers from Agua Prieta, in the state of Sonora, and other Mexican towns who flock to its Wal-Mart, Food City and Safeway.

Some 5 million people legally crossed between the sister cities last year, making its port of entry the 11th busiest on the Mexican border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

Cross-border shoppers drive the town’s economy, and its mayor Wednesday derided the efforts of National Alliance for Human Rights.

“They’re prostituting our city just like the Minutemen, for personal gain,� said Douglas Mayor Ray Borane. “We don’t want them here. They’re not needed, invited or welcome.�

Agua Prieta Mayor David Figueroa said he opposed the proposed blockade.

“It seems to me we can’t demand rights by violating rights,� he said.

But Figueroa said he respected the right of Agua Prieta citizens to boycott U.S. goods, as some did last weekend.

“It’s a peaceful action, an action that invites reflection,� he said.

Demonstrators had also asked border crossers to turn around, decreasing traffic by about 1,200 cars Saturday and 300 cars Sunday, said a U.S. Customs spokesman.

An ad in an Agua Prieta newspaper, Semanario La Razon, had promoted a “Latino boycott� of American products and denounced “racism� and “civilian snipers.� It urged Latinos to refrain from trade with the United States, or buying groceries or gas across the border.

Those demonstrating on May Day, the Mexican equivalent of Labor Day, intend to “show that the Mexican people are a big part of the border economy,� said Francisco Campa Garcia, an organization secretary for the Democratic Revolution Party in Agua Prieta who is helping with the National Alliance rally.

“We hope the result [of the movement] will be the United States pressuring the Minutemen� to end their search for undocumented immigrants, said Campa Garcia, who called the patrollers a “group of racists.�

Speakers at the National Alliance press conference, which sent 30 or so members this month to protest the Minutemen, said the demonstration was part of a larger struggle over the Southwest border.

“It’s a disgrace that there is so much hatred in some people’s hearts that they try to prevent [migrants] from crossing the border,� said Roberto Tijerina of Brown Berets de Aztlan in Riverside.