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Yale University professor Alicia Schmidt Camacho speaks about militaristic surveillance on the U.S. Mexico boarder Wednesday, March 24, 2017 at the Center of Southwest Research in Zimmerman Library. 

Yale University professor Alicia Schmidt Camacho speaks about militaristic surveillance on the U.S. Mexico boarder Wednesday, March 24, 2017 at the Center of Southwest Research in Zimmerman Library. 

Guest lecturer discusses civil rights loss in border region

On Wednesday dozens piled into the Waters Room at Zimmerman to hear Yale University professor Alicia Schmidt-Camacho speak about the effects of militaristic surveillance on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Her talk — “U.S. Border Surveillance, State Optics and the Production of Migrant Illegality” — was the last of the month-long Borderlands Event Series spearheaded by UNM English assistnt professor Bernadine Hernández.

The series was a nod to Women’s History Month and a branch off Hernández’ Borderlands Cultural class, which she described as “on the ground,” “grassroots” and “multidisciplinary.”

Hernández said Schmidt-Camacho is one of the key scholars on the U.S.-Mexico border, making her a perfect fit to wrap up the lecture series.

Schmidt-Camacho’s lecture discussed the 500 years of injustice on the Hispanic communities in the United States, and how those years have developed into the heavy hand of the Department of Homeland Security, especially after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

She brought attention to the “dehumanization” of devices, such as X-rays of vehicles crossing the border, which allows unknowing passersby to be exposed to powerful radiation, as well as live scan biometric ID technology and the the United States Visitor and Immigration Status Indicator Technology (U.S.-VISIT) Program implemented by the DHS.

The U.S.-VISIT program’s features included: fingerprint scanning, travel document review and taking photos of travelers

The program has since been replaced by the Office of Biometric Identity Management, according to the DHS website.

After discussing these new technologies, Schmidt-Camacho said this approach demoralizes people, but women are targeted in particular. This can occur via body cavity searches without warrant and other means.

Such targeting may also lead to sexual assault, as 75 percent of female migrants face sexual assault, some at the hands of state agents.

The points she made lead us to question just how far the government might go when it comes to border control, Schmidt-Camacho said. She concluded that we must “re-humanize” ourselves in order to alleviate this problem, because “no human being is illegal.”

“Looking at the present political crisis we’re facing, this was a crucial event for me to attend,” said Jesmine Singh, a sophomore French literature major.

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Singh was able to learn more information on migration, its definition and how human bodies are “transformed into things.”

“There is a complete deconstruction of the idea of what it means to be a human being because of new policies,” she said.

“Albuquerque is an important place in the U.S.-Mexico border region, where the effects of border militarization have been felt very strongly,” Schmidt-Camacho said, which she is argued is among the reasons why the topic should be discussed at our University.

Along with a strong political response both in and outside the community, scholars in the English, Chicano/a Studies and American Studies Departments at UNM have helped her shape her own work, while the students have developed work of their own, she said.

“We hope this can be institutionalized,” Hernández said. “We hope Borderlands can expand and create real changes.”

She said a lecture like this is needed, especially “in this moment where immigration is linked to criminalization,” due to President Donald Trump’s recent steps towards tightening border security.

Being that UNM is a “majority minority campus” with a community of undocumented students, Schmidt-Camacho said the University needs to work to protect them. 

Schmidt-Camacho said she hopes audience members walked away with the ability “to recognize their own stake, the importance in understanding and responding to the changes in governance that are happening all around us that we might not always be aware of — we all have a personal stake in it — and in many ways, are worsening the conditions for all of us, citizen and non-citizen alike.”

Elizabeth Sanchez is a reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Beth_A_Sanchez.

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