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Show THE STATE OF THE BORDER: 6 | October 17, 2019 | MyWeberMedia.com A JOURNALIST’S ACCOUNT OF BOTH SIDES By FRANCISCO RUIZ Reporter Weber State graduate and Emmy-award nominee Pedro Rojas presented his firsthand experiences as a journalist covering the law enforcement and humanitarian challenges the Unites States-Mexico border faces. To understand both perspectives, Rojas spent time with border patrol agents and migrants to understand the conditions of their ongoing situation. As attendees shuffled into the Wildcat Theater, Rojas projected an image of a newscast focused on himself as he directed questions to a border patrol officer. While they stood on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande river in Texas, the only evidence that migrants had been in the area were scraps of garbage and foot traffic that littered the shoreline. There was more than that, however. “It was 112 degrees, we were standing at the edge of the United States, and there was a body of migrants who tried to cross right near the edge of the water,” Rojas said. The Rio Grande appears misleading— shallow and tranquil—but many migrants have fallen victim due to its depth and unseen rip currents. The river serves as a physical metaphor for the obstacles the U.S. government and migrants face in regard to the consequences of poverty and violence in Central America and other regions of the world. Historically, illegal migration across the U.S. southern border consisted mostly of Mexican males wanting to enter the U.S. for work. This changed in 2014 when U.S. Customs and Border Protection began seeing increases in family units and unaccompanied minors attempting to cross. The national origin of these migrants were different. More migrants were fleeing poverty, instability and violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. CPB statistics show 569,000 apprehensions occurred at the southern border in 2014. The existing federal holding facilities were inadequate for the new inflows of families and minors. The government had originally designed these holding facilities for the short-term detention of single adults. “The Border Patrol apprehended more people on the border in one year than the entire population of the Ogden-Layton metro area,” Rojas said. Because of the sudden influx in family units and unaccompanied minors, the Obama Administration ordered a limited deployment of the National Guard to the border and began construction of facilities suitable for holding families and minors separately from single men. These facilities became the infamous “cages” of recent accounts. The number of migrants in custody also led to the creation of federal “tent courts” in several border cities where hundreds of migrants at a time could stand trial and face conviction and deportation. In 2017, the Trump Administration granted federal agents greater discretionary power to enforce federal immigration law. “The Trump Administration really was not doing anything new,” Rojas said. “They only decided to strictly enforce laws that were already on the books. Previous administrations took other approaches.” In 2018, the Trump Administration introduced “family separation” as an additional deterrent to illegal immigration. Under the policy, adults accompanying children across the border needed legal proof of their relationship to the minors. Otherwise, federal agents would separate the minors from the adults. The policy proved to be devastating for migrant family groups who carried little to no legal paperwork. The policy also failed to include provisions for reuniting family members. EXTRA DAY FREE on Disneyland® Resort tickets! Stay and play longer for less with our 5th Day Free Disneyland® Resort Tickets valid for travel now – December 31, 2019. Purchase Disneyland® Resort Park Hopper® Tickets for the most flexibility, or choose 1-Park per Day tickets for as low as $65 per day! Add Disney’s MaxPass Service to any of our tickets for just $15 per day. Even better, save $30 per ticket on our 5th Day Free tickets with Disney’s MaxPass! Best of State 2013 - 2019 Travel Agency Please mention Weber State Signpost when booking 855-GET-AWAY | getawaytoday.com SCHOOL OF RADIOLOGIC SCIENCES Learn with Purpose, then Lead with Passion weber.edu/radsci |