She Died in 2008

She died in 2008. The years are passing, and at some point she will be forgotten. And what connection could she possibly have for me? A little Mexican girl I never met. I very much doubt she was a saint. She was probably just as worldly and selfish as any other human being. Why, then, does her story bring tears to my eyes?

Josseline Janiletha Hernandez Quinteros was fifteen years old when she joined a group of her fellow Mexicans to cross the border illegally into Arizona. All she wanted was to find her mother, who was in Los Angeles. She sustained an injury, and the mercenary group leader decided to leave her behind in the desert. When the group got out of the desert, her brother asked volunteers for help in finding her. They found her. The first thing they saw was her bright green tennis shoes. The next thing they saw, and smelled, was her rotting corpse.

I realize that there are many issues connected with illegal immigration. These people are breaking the law. Yes. These people may consume resources that are already in short supply for Americans, including legal immigrants. Yes, although one look at a fast food dumpster makes the supply argument look pretty vacuous. I dispute none of these things. But what bothers me is the zeal of moral rectitude that some people take against the illegal immigrants, a zeal that has gotten the federal government to spend millions of dollars. First, the federal government has spent enormous amounts of money to build a high-tech fence to prevent border crossings. A portion of Interstate 8 comes close to it outside of Yuma. Last summer I saw this fence. It reminded me of a Stalag confinement or the Berlin Wall. And it stretched into the distance. Millions of dollars to keep illegal immigrants out. But the zeal has gone further. It is illegal to provide food or water to these immigrants, as activist Daniel Millis found out in 2010. If you see one of them dying in the desert, you have to break the law to help them to survive. At this point I will ask the obvious question: What would Jesus do?

Why do some people like to hate illegal immigrants so much? The Old Testament prophets, from the early Amos to the later Jeremiah, criticized one king after another because they did not do justice and provide for the poor, the widows, the orphans, and the aliens (also called sojourners). The least we can do, to avoid God’s wrath (if there is a God with wrath) is to not hate the illegal aliens. Is that too much to ask? We may have to arrest them and send them back, but at least we can avoid hating them. I assume most Border Patrol officers are professionals and do their jobs without showing disrespect to the people whom they must arrest. I am thinking more about the civilian activists who make illegal immigration sound like the Black Death and illegal immigrants like rats.

And like any government, our federal government exults in its own power. The Border Patrol points to the fact that, since the big fence has been in operation, there have been far fewer desert crossings by illegals. The credit, they believe, goes to our technology and to the fact that the Border Patrol has been kicking Mexican butts. But as a scientist I have learned to recognize the difference between correlation and causation. During the time that illegal border crossings have declined, there has also been a recession. (I know, the recession is officially over; have you noticed?) Many poor Mexicans have weighed the danger of a desert crossing, plus the declining prospects of employment, against the danger of staying home and putting up with drug cartels. Many of them have decided that, at this time, a border crossing is not worth the risks and expense (the mercenary group leaders demand steep payment).

Like anyone else driving through California, I have had to wait in the long lines on the freeways as Border Patrol officers screen each car. They have signs up telling how many pounds of illegal drugs they have confiscated during these searches. I concede this point, and appreciate it. But something is wrong if it is a crime to help a little girl dying in the desert.

This topic is not one to which I have given much attention. So why am I writing this? Just look in Janiletha’s eyes, and you will know.