EDITORIAL: Militarization of U.S. border too problematic to continue

Another border operation, another questionable shooting, another example of why our continued use of military personnel is wrong for border operations — especially when those operations are only intended to win political points with voters who are afraid people who don’t look like they do.

Saturday night, a Texas National Guard soldier deployed to the border as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star fired a weapon across the Rio Grande from the El Paso area into Ciudad Juarez, hitting a man on the other side. The man apparently survived the attack.

Further information is sketchy, as various agencies and departments, including the Texas Military Department, U.S. State Department and governor’s office, all are referring questions about the incident to each other.

This is hardly the first cross-border shooting. The Southern Border Communities Coalition reports at least six other incidents since 2010 that have all killed people in Mexico; non-fatal shootings were not listed in the group’s data.

These are just shots fired across the border; the coalition lists more than 125 other fatalities at the hands of those employed in border control operations during the same time period. Neither is Saturday’s incident the first use of lethal force by a Texas National Guardsman. A soldier shot and wounded an immigrant on Jan. 13 in the Mission area.

Every such case is alarming, and unnecessary. After all, the troop deployments, even though they have been popular since the 1990s, are all for show, to roust up political support for those who seek to benefit from demonizing immigrants and ethnic minorities.

It’s a wasteful use of taxpayers’ money, and a reckless endangerment of human life.

We must keep in mind that troops deployed to the border — even state troopers whom Abbott has also sent here — are not authorized to enforce our federal immigration laws. In fact, military personnel have limited authority to do anything within our country’s borders.

The reason should be obvious. Military personnel are trained to fight an enemy, not for policing duties that require different training — and a different mindset.

Military training involves preparation to attack and kill an enemy. Policing involves protecting the public, including suspected lawbreakers they encounter. Respect for humanity is important to policing duties.

The xenophobes who are using and supporting the militarization of our borders are presenting immigrants, and people on the other side, as enemies, even using language that is meant to dehumanize them. Such presentations could lead some people, including deployed troops, to see them as less than human and thus be more willing to use lethal force against them.

We are not at war with Mexico, and we are not being invaded by hordes of foreigners. We must stop listening to those who say we are. We must stop demonizing and dehumanizing other people. And we have to end border policies that have more risk than benefit.

Most importantly, we have to enact immigration policies that reduces the backlog of applicants and gives people less reason to think that extreme and lethal border protection actions are necessary.