What a sad state of affairs the immigration situation in this country is! Due to a huge market for illegal drugs in the U.S., narcotraficantes in Mexico are forcing small farmers to plant poppies and marijuana to sell to us, the largest market in the world for recreational drugs and addicts. 

U.S. employers are paying huge sums to “coyotes” to bring fleeing Mexican laborers, across the border in search of a better life with the promise of a job.
Our response? 

We pressure the Mexican government to crack down on their people.  We demonize the poor people trying to survive, Sheriff Joe Arpaio strutting like a schoolyard bully about round-ups and tent incarcerations in 100 degree plus desert temperatures.

Rev. John Herman from Tempe, Arizona in a letter to a Phoenix paper refers to the trash along our border as a “trail of tears” similar to that of the Cherokees on the death march to Oklahoma or to the debris left scattered along the Oregon Trail.

When are we going to accept responsibility for our problems and stop trying to blame the victims?  Mexico is at war trying to supply our huge drug market.  Employers are scooping up the cheap labor market.  When we face up to the problem that is OURS, then maybe our border will be more secure and this election-inspired frenzy to find a scapegoat will end.

Sherry Wilmoth, Sedona