If you’ve been reading the Tucson Weekly with any frequency at all, you know that we’ve put a lot of time, effort and resources into coverage of immigration and the border. Last week, in our Yum! dining guide, Margaret Regan wrote about Just Coffee, a Mexican co-op that is offering clues on how to boost the Mexican economy–and perhaps slow down immigration.
This week, the Weekly includes two very different–yet both painfully accurate and detailed–stories on the horrible results of illegal immigration. Leo W. Banks follows what we’re calling the Amnesty Trail, a popular route for migrants, coyotes and smugglers–and what he finds will blow your mind.
Freelancer Debbie Nathan brings us the sad tale of Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera. He’s the young man killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent on Jan. 12. Debbie traveled to Dominguez Rivera’s hometown of Cuautla and talked to his family, bringing back a few photos that will break your heart.
Seeing as we’ve covered one story that portrays a migrant in a positive light, and another that details the havoc being wreaked because of the flood of migrants into Arizona, I have no doubt that I’ll get a deluge of e-mails and phone calls from people on all sides of the immigration debate. Seeing as people are more likely to write or call when they’re upset, I am bracing for lots of crankiness.
But I am ready for it. It’s our job to cover all aspects of the debacle that is resulting from our country’s current border policy (or the lack thereof)–even if people don’t like it.
This article appears in Feb 15-21, 2007.