American Border Patrol_Cerda

Image from: http://usdefensewatch.com/

American Border Patrol/American Patrol By: Barbara Cerda May 2017

“An invasion is spreading across America like wildfire, bringing gangs, drugs and an alien culture into the very heartland of America.”-Voices of Citizens Together video, “Immigration: Threatening the Bonds of Our Union,” 1999. (Glenn Spencer, n.d.)

American Border Patrol, formerly known as, American Patrol and Voices of Citizens Together is an anti-immigration group founded by Glenn Spencer. It is a 501 c (3) non-profit organization. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, this group is “one of the most virulent anti-immigration groups around.” Spencer is known for using citizen patrol to monitor movements across the Mexican-American border like a watch dog group. He uses special aerial surveillance equipment (drones) to report people crossing the border. The American Border Patrol group focuses on transmitting slanted publications and propaganda with the intent of convincing the American nation that Mexican immigrants bring to the United States, “crime, drugs, squalor and…practicing immigration via the birth canal.” (American Border Patrol, n.d.) This group fully supports the militarization of the Mexican-American border to impede illegal immigration from Mexico into the United States. The group was formed in 1992, in

Sierra Vista, Arizona when Spencer moved from Los Angeles, California. The group’s website states that Spencer graduated from UCLA, and had a career in business relations before retiring to focus his full attention on the anti-immigration movement.

The Rodney King riots prompted the founding of this group (under another name), when Spencer allegedly witnessed “Mexicans…tearing down his old neighborhood.” (American Border Patrol, n.d.) In 1994, after a wave of Mexican immigration, Spencer led groups in support of the California Proposition 187, which would deny healthcare and education to undocumented immigrants and their children. Collaboration between American Border Patrol and other anti-immigration groups, white supremacists and extremists was also established at this time. This included partnerships with California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR) and the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), which was founded after the 1954 Brown v.

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Board Supreme Court decision, banning segregation in public schools.

Recruitment tactics that are used in order to get people involved consist of putting out media publications via the website, radio stations, and video and news channels in hopes of holding the United States government accountable for combating illegal immigration. The videos and articles create a feeling distrust and resentment towards the U.S. government and Mexican immigrants. The American Border Patrol talks about “La Reconquista de Aztlán,” (The Conquest of Aztlán) quite frequently. The “Nation of Aztlan” is pictured in the map below. This main theory is used behind all of the work that this group does. This theory or conspiracy states that Mexico is sending its citizens over the border to regain American states (formerly Mexican states) that were lost in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This conspiracy is referred to in Spencer’s written publications and video channels as a Mexican invasion into our country.

Chicano activists groups refer to the Conquest of Aztlán differently and use it as a way to empower Mexican-American communities against oppression and poverty that they face in the United States.

Followers of the American Border Patrol include individuals who are interested keeping borders secure and those who are against immigration into the United States. The total number of site visits amount to 1,758,046 views, according to the American Border Patrol website. This group can be followed on Facebook and has 1,540 likes and Twitter with 157 followers. The events that the American Border Patrol coordinates consist of cook outs on the ranches along the border. They hold fundraisers and ask for donations online to maintain the organization.

Over the years, the American Border Patrol has attempted to collaborate with the United States government in capturing people crossing the border but it has been unsuccessful. Spencer claims that the government is not doing sufficient work to secure the border and takes matters into his own hands by creating aerial cameras that detect movements. More recently, his work has been examined by Mexican media outlets and talked about throughout Mexico.

Image from: http://www.rmbnewsreport.com

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Selected Materials and Propaganda The following materials are screenshots from the website, www.americanborderpatrol.com, and anti-immigration images.

Exhibit A

This is a screen shot of the content that is shown on the website for American Border Patrol. The headlines inform those who visit the website about crimes committed by Mexican nationals. Other headlines give information about the U.S. government and what the progress is on securing the Mexican-American border.

Exhibit B

This image was pulled from www.google.com and pictures former President Bush and former President of Mexico Vicente Fox, wearing t-shirts that allegedly show support for illegal immigration. The Conquest of Aztlan is also referenced in this visual.

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Exhibit C

This piece is an example of one of the publications that Spencer authors informing the audience about the Conquest of Aztlán. A picture of former President Obama is used in the imagery accompanying the content of the article.

Exhibit D

This image pictures California offering “Free Healthcare,” and implies that the reason that people cross the border is to reap off of the benefits the United States offers.

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Exhibit E

This exhibit is another cartoon that creates animosity towards immigrants stating that they are taking from families.

Exhibit F

This cartoon represents what anti-immigration groups think and want people to think America is like.

Analysis After careful analyzation of the American Border Patrol, I am able to identify various General Semantics techniques and frameworks related to different messages and aspects of the group. First, I will examine the website publications, then the images and finally the video publications. As a whole, the group uses a very high-level of abstraction, affective connotations, and two-value thinking.

Abstracting is the concept of using words that take away from the individual thing that is being referenced and grouping it into a vague category that creates judgments from individuals according to their own maps. An example of this is found in Exhibit A, in the first headline that uses the term, “Mexican Sex Offender,” to create a semantic reaction causing anger, disgust, and sadness. This is an example of the use of affective connotations and the term triggers similar reactions in different people for different purposes. One type of person might feel anger towards this because it would make them feel anger towards the “Mexican Sex Offender.”

Another person may feel anger because in fact, this term is a racist statement, but someone who agrees with the statement wouldn’t feel this way. This use of abstraction creates animosity 5

towards a certain group of people and it is used for recruiting those with similar feelings about the blanket statement. Examples of the use of abstractions and affective connotations are heavily used throughout Glenn Spencer’s work.

In the visual publications, there is a display of very select information. There are “facts” that are illustrated, and attributions to those facts are not given. Where does this material come from?

Does California really give free healthcare? Snarl words are used in Exhibit C and F, referring to “illegal aliens”, gangs and drugs. These are also examples of the use of affective connotations and two-value thinking. “Illegal aliens” are bad, and anyone who does not classify as an “illegal alien,” is a good person. So the two-value thinking here creates the idea of us vs. them, creating messages of hate towards the group of people who are considered to be bad. Also, the use of these words, phrases and sentences makes a person create their own judgments based on nonfacts. The word alien itself is problematic when used in this sense because it refers to a very non-human term when referring to actual people.

In Spencer’s video publications found on his website, he uses clips of politicians to create the message of a conspiracy that leftist government officials are allegedly involved in. These messages are highly slanted with the use of affective connotations to create reactions. The tone of the videos is very dull, giving it a sense of “uniformity,” and make a person feel like they are learning from a source with actual facts. The map that is being created by Spencer is not the actual territory. He constructs these ideas according to his own two-value thinking and writes them down as facts. His reports are not verifiable, because they are opinions. Of course, he is not the first person or the last person to use these strategies, but it makes one think about the things in our extensional world that are also heavily slanted to make us think a certain way.

My Action Plan My disempowerment strategy has been in place for a very long time. This is not the first time that I have heard about antiimmigration hate groups. White supremacy and the dehumanization of groups of people are not new concepts. Historically, pitting groups of people against one another has been a tactic to gain societal control in the United States. The United States has a history of referring to Native American people as “savages,” when colonizers came to take the land that rightfully belonged to the Indians. When the Constitution was written, AfricanAmericans were “defined as three- fifths of

a man, not a real whole human,” according to Michelle Alexander in The New Jim Crow.

The United States has created an intricate system of hate that we are so conditioned to being racist without realizing it. Racism has become normalized and not enough people realize it.

With that said, my action plan starts with myself. After analyzing the specific concepts and general semantics terms, I can walk the world and identify the persuasive techniques in language. I keep a tight grasp on my Mexican roots through music, language, my family, religion and education.

I have learned to stand up for myself and against racism. Through my education, I have been able to see how our society has 6

historically treated people of color and every day that I wake up; I can dismantle racism. Existence is a revolutionary act.

My existence has helped me take care of those around me. In my Civil Rights class, we recently had a discussion on the use of the word “felon.” My professor couldn’t understand why it was a harmful label to use when referring to people who have committed crimes, so I spoke up. While I realize it is not my job to educate everyone around me, (people have to do their own work) I am now at a point where I can speak up when I want to and I can deconstruct slanted messages to help people seek the truth in language. This is the second component of my action plan.

Community work keeps me grounded and helps me think outside of my own life and circumstances. I volunteer for a non-profit law office to help people with low incomes who cannot afford legal representation because I have a personal connection to the work. I have friends at Voces de La Frontera, a human rights organization, who allow me to participate in their marches for immigrant and worker rights. I have the opportunity to be a member of organizations like this and donate my services to immigration work. I am convinced that my grain of sand has brought empowerment to my community.

Bibliography Alexander, M. (2010). The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: The New Press.

American Border Patrol. (n.d.). Retrieved from Southern Poverty Law Center: https://www.splcenter.org/fightinghate/extremist-files/group/americanborder-patrolamerican-patrol Glenn Spencer. (n.d.). Retrieved from Southern Poverty Law Center: https://www.splcenter.org/fightinghate/extremist-files/individual/glennspencer News, F. (n.d.). Border Battle. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/57L261PA5AA Spencer, G. (n.d.). Retrieved from American Border Patrol: www.americanborderpatrol.com

I come from a family of Mexican immigrants and working to create better lives for ourselves is another action plan- a strategy.

With the dedication we bring to the table, we can all shut down racism and hate to create better quality lives for everyone. 

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