El Paso to Obama: Tear Down That Wall

It will be interesting to see whether President-elect Barack Obama has any public reaction to a letter being sent to him by officials from El Paso, Texas – or just how far he goes out of his way to avoid publicly saying anything.

Local officials along the U.S./Mexico border (who share a metropolitan area with Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua) want Obama to make one of his first acts as president the cutting off of funds for construction of a barricade along the border.

THAT WALL, WHICH the El Paso Times reports is known locally as the “muros de odio” (or “Wall of Hate,” en Inglès), was a significant part of the immigration “reform” measures approved during the presidency of George W. Bush.

The wall was supposed to make it more difficult for people to get into the United States from Mexico, and was supposed to improve the national security of our country. Critics (a.k.a., people who look at the issue realistically) realize that neither measure has been achieved, and the wall has become nothing more than a symbol that certain elements view Mexico and the rest of Latin America as a place to lay blame for problems.

The El Paso Times reported that the local officials who signed the letter (including area Texas legislators and members of Congress) plan to send it on Friday to the Obama transition, hope he will perceive the issue as they do – a waste of federal funds at a time when the U.S. government needs every dollar it can get.

“Let us take the months that we’ve now invested and spent on muros de odio and put it into investment of infrastructure and human capital on the border,” the letter reads.

NOW I VOTED for Barack Obama, both back in the Illinois primary election held in February and in last month’s general election. I believe he generally is sympathetic to the concerns of the growing Latino population of this country, and has a difficult job of trying to balance out the interests of the various factions of the people who show their loyalty to the Democratic Party – without coming off as too tyrannical to Republicans.

But I honestly have no idea how Obama would react to this letter. I expect any call made to the Obama transition for a comment would get some sort of response that uses many words to say absolutely nothing.

For as much as Latinos and sensible people are appalled by “the wall,” there is another segment of the population that will view any attempt to dismantle their precious barricade as an act of war, of sorts, against their beliefs.

It was fear of that segment getting riled up and voting against him that caused Obama to ultimately vote in favor of building physical barricades along the U.S./Mexico border when the issue came up before Congress some two years ago.

HECK, LATINO GROUPS who favored Hillary R. Clinton during the primary season and later were so intensely ABO (Anybody But Obama) that they were among the 1/3 of the Latino voter bloc who allegedly voted for John McCain tried using this as an issue to discourage Latinos from casting ballots for Barack.

“He voted in favor of building that heinous wall,” they would screech (while ignoring the fact that Clinton and McCain did so, as well).

Suddenly changing stance (coming to his senses) and taking a public action opposing border wall construction would be seen as a horrid act by a segment of the population that wants to demonize the growing Latino numbers.

But if he speaks out in favor of including border wall construction as some sort of national security measure, he will be seen as a turncoat by many Latinos – whose numbers are growing and will continue to become a dominant part of the U.S. electorate for the next couple of decades.

OBAMA WOULD LIKE to be able to ignore the letter (the same way that outgoing President Bush would just as soon “lose” the letter sent to him asking for a commutation of sentence for one-time Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who is serving a prison term on government corruption charges, but also embarrassed GOP colleagues with his public opposition to capital punishment).

But he can’t.

Because this is an issue where his refusal to say anything will also be perceived as a snub of the Latino population. Because even those of us who were born in this country take an interest in immigration issues as evidence of how the government officials perceive us as a whole (we realize most of you are too dumb to be able to tell us apart).

To use the old cliché, he’s damned if he does, and damned if he doesn’t.

ULTIMATELY, THIS IS going to be one of those issues where Obama’s actions will determine just how important Latinos are within the scheme of his worldview.

And if he ultimately decides to take a stance perceived as support for the border wall fanatics, then Obama had better brace himself for the reality of Latinos (who gave solid support for his election bid) being among his biggest critics – even before he takes office.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: Many of the officials who signed the letter to Barack Obama also are in (http://www.elpasotimes.com/politics/ci_11133793) support of lawsuits now pending before the Supreme Court of the United States that challenge the legality of a border wall.

The letter sent to Obama (http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site525/2008/1204/20081204_123551_Letter%20to%20President-elect.pdf) can be found here.