No Money for Trump's Border Wall!

Speech given by Anti-War Committee member Autumn Lake on 12/20/2018 at Senator Klobuchar’s office to say “NO Money for the Border Wall! Speak out for Honduran Refugees!”.

We are here today to stand together in solidarity with the members of the caravan from Honduras, who have courageously trekked thousands of miles in order to seek asylum here in the United States. We in the Anti-War Committee join all of you in declaring that, “Honduran refugees are welcome here!”

We are also here to take a stand against Senator Amy Klobuchar’s willingness to capitulate to the Trump administration’s demand for funding for the proposed wall at the Mexican border. As the Trump administration continues its attacks on the most vulnerable groups among us, it is as important as ever for Minnesotans to stand up for our migrant brothers and sisters. Senator Klobuchar, however, projects herself as someone who is open to “compromise,” and as someone seeking “sensible immigration reforms” – reforms that inevitably lead to increased border militarization and the continued criminalization of migrants. Make no mistake, “sensible immigration reforms” means funding for detention facilities where children are detained and have died, funding for the ICE agents that terrorize and racially profile innocent Latino populations already within US borders, and funding for the militarized aggression against innocent asylum seekers.

Estimates for the cost of the border wall – not including the costs of maintaining a military and homeland security presence at the border – have reached as high as $22 billion. It is absolutely reprehensible that our representatives in Congress to are willing to vote to fund such an outrageous exercise in the denial of human rights. Meanwhile, in the current economic climate, some of the resources that are the most difficult for people to access here in the US include housing, healthcare, childcare, and clean water. We demand that funding should go to meet basic human needs instead of this inhumane border wall, and that our representatives be held accountable to this demand.

The crisis that continues to drive people from Central America to the US is the direct result of US militarism and intervention in this region. Between the CIA-backed coup of Guatemala’s democratically elected government in 1954, the backing of the Contras in Nicaragua in the 1980s, the War on Drugs initiated by the Nixon administration, and the coup of the democratically-elected president of Honduras spearheaded by the Obama administration, it is entirely self-evident that the force that creates refugees from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua is none other than the United States.

This militarism is not limited to US foreign policy, however. The deployment of military units to the US-Mexico border continues to pose a genuine threat to the refugees currently attempting to gain asylum. Despite claims of a drawdown of forces, as many as 4,000 active duty troops will remain deployed at the border, their deployment having been extended to January 31st. Roughly 2,300 National Guard troops are scheduled to remain at the border until September 2019. Per an order signed by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, these troops are authorized to use lethal force during these deployments.

Let us be absolutely clear: a US military presence at the border, where the use of lethal force is authorized, is nothing short of an act of aggression against asylum seekers – an act of aggression deeply rooted in the same militarism that created the conditions that the refugees are fleeing. As Senator Klobuchar prepares to cast her vote in the Senate tomorrow, let’s make it clear that the people of Minnesota demand an end to the militarization of the US-Mexico border! Asylum is a right!

From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have got to go!