"First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me."
~ Martin Niemoller
Arizona’s Checkpoint Rebellion
“Liberals, libertarians, retirees, and activists protest against immigration patrols far from the border.” Good. I've been questioned and searched repeatedly at those points. Once, on the way to the grocery store and 100 miles away from the border, my sister and I – with all of our children – were ordered out of our vehicle at a mandatory Border Patrol inspection station so they could search it and when they found nothing, they asked to search again. I fully expected them to drop something in the vehicle to “find” on the second search. Thankfully, they didn't. We were there so long that I got to place a poop-filled diaper in a Border Patrol agent's hand (the highlight of the event), after he retrieved and thoroughly searched my diaper bag before giving it to me to change my youngest on the side of the highway. While there are many things I do miss in being away from home for so long, I do enjoy not having to deal with that sort of harassment any more.
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