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Phyllis Barnes phyllis.barnes@gleanerna.net NEW YORK Christopher Barnes - Mana ger (Interim) christopher.barnes@gleanern a.net Normadelle Rose - Office Supervisor normadelle.rose@gleanerna. net 92-05 172nd Street, Jamaica, NY 11433, 718-657-0788 Aubrey Campbell aubreycgleaner@gmail.com 2 ON FEBRUARY 6, people across the world will be organising vigils, protests, and marches to honour lives lost in the process of migration. Whether lost at sea, border crossings, or dying in detention facilities, borders are ever increasingly perilous. This year, we will be honouring the Patel family (Jagdish, 35 years old, Vaishali, 33 years old, Vihanda, 12 years old, and Dharmik, three years old) among the countless others who lost their lives. The Patels froze to death while crossing the frigid and dangerous borders between Manitoba and North Dakota. Joseph Shand has been charged, and six people employed to a travel company in Gujarat, India, also face charges in what is being described as a ‘human smuggling ring’. Rather than addressing how crossing borders is becomingmore dangerous, police and border officials are calling for increased measures to securitise borders. This means puttingmore resources towards surveillance, including biometric technologies. This is the wrong approach. The militarisation of borders will only lead to more deaths. LAW ENFORCEMENT Border officials and police agencies have also taken to the airwaves to warn people against the dangers of ‘illegal crossings’. Nowhere do law enforcement or government officials state their own culpability through the implementation of policies such as the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA). Signed between the US and Canada in 2004, the STCA is instrumental in limiting the ability of most migrants to make asylum claims at border entry points. It is not that people are choosing the most dangerous paths - stricter border policies intent on deterring migrants are, in fact, pushing migrants to undertake more deadly crossings. Clamping down on smugglers is a reactive measure that does not address the root political, economic, and social reasons why people are migrating, nor does it address the conditions people endure at the grey zones known as borders – sites created where human rights provisions and transparency simply do not exist. The very fact that these situations are dangerous stems from the securitisation – and existence – of the borders themselves. Borders are sites of both state- sanctioned experimentation and private-sector innovation that reinforces a system of structural violence on racialised migrants. While it is easy to vilify the exorbitant fees paid by individuals to smugglers, little scrutiny is paid to the ways that governments fund corporations’ development, implementation, and profit of discriminatory technologies. Both Canada and the US use a wide array of surveillance tools to further criminalise and racially profile would-be migrants predominantly from the global South. For families like the Patels, this means greater scrutiny of applications from the global South and the prioritisation of migrants with socioeconomic privilege. It means more barriers to entry even while Canada, the US, and other global North states play a role in the creation of those conditions that make people move. As long as discriminatory policies and practices continue to be developed and implemented at the border, we will continue to be horrified by the effects borne by migrants. This is why we honour them, mourn them, and continue to fight for justice. Garvey exoneration fight gets support THE P.J. Patterson Centre for African-Caribbean Advocacy has thrown its weight behind the decades-old campaign for the posthumous exoneration of Jamaican National Hero Marcus Mosiah Garvey. The philosopher and black-consciousness ad- vocate was convicted of mail fraud in the United States in 1923. In a letter addressed to all CARICOM heads of state and government, the centre has invoked their endorsement by three specific steps: (i) A letter co-signed by all heads addressed directly to US President Joseph R. Biden invoking his assent to the petition; (ii) Launching in each member state a public appeal for 100,000 signatories to the petition; (iii) To extend their outreach through all re- gional institutions and organisations via the CARICOM Secretariat and externally through their embassies and consulates. “Let our voices be heard loud and strong on the continent, across the Caribbean Sea and through- out our diaspora as one in this plea, for the tenets of justice demand it,”said the centre in its appeal. Dr Julius Garvey, head of the Marcus Garvey Institute, has conveyed his appreciation of the centre’s support in the global campaign to obtain a minimum of 100,000 petition signatories. Persons may contact the website justice4gar- vey.org or sign the petition at contactus/the whitehouse. AA launching flights from MoBay to Austin, Texas AMERICAN AIRLINES has added Austin, Texas, to its United States-Montego Bay (MBJ) route and will commence flights between the cities as at June 11. The airline, the number-one carrier into the island, already operates a service to MBJ from Miami, Dallas/FortWorth, Charlotte, NewYork-JFK, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Starting June 11, the airline will offer service between Austin and MBJ on Saturdays at the following local times: ● Outbound flight departs AUS at 8:20 a.m. and arrives MBJ at 11:23 a.m. ● Inbound flight departs MBJ at 12:03 p.m. and arrives AUS at 3:53 p.m. American says both routes will be operated by Envoy Air on an Embraer E175. Currently, American operates nine flights per day on weekdays and 11 on Saturdays. janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com Security minister vows to fix crime; calls PNP ultimatum to police chief ‘unethical’ NATIONAL SECURITY Minister Dr Horace Chang has rebuffed calls for his resignation amid an escalating homicide rate and pledged that Jamaicans will soon see the gains of an assault on violent crime. The country ended last year with 1,463 reported homicides, and police statistics revealed that 111 people were killed in the first 22 days of 2022, a 16 per cent rise year-on-year. But Chang, who is also deputy prime minister and member of parliament for St James North Western, has pushed back at the clamour for his exit - a crescendo that has got louder since his retention after a Cabinet reshuffle this month. “I have a job to do, and I will get it done. I know I can get it done,”Chang said when quizzed by The Gleaner on calls for his sacking or resignation. Politician under fire for race gaffe PEOPLE’S NATIONAL Party (PNP) General Secretary Dayton Campbell has been hauled over the coals for an offensive racial remark aimed at Robert Montague, the chairman of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). Campbell, who has been criticised for past gaffes, went off message in a press conference onTuesday that sought to slam the Government’s management of crime as well as its failure to agi- tate against the hiking of bank user fees. Port Maria in recovery mode as mayor laments worst flood ever THE RETURN of sunshine Wednesday only served to reveal that dark times were not yet over for Port Maria after three days of torrential rainfall, which triggered widespread devasta- tion and floods, left sections of the St Mary capital under mounds of muck. NEWS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED Address how crossing borders is becoming more dangerous Taneeta Doma Chris Ramsaroop THE WEEKLY GLEANER | FEBRUARY 3 - 28, 2022 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS P h yllis Barnes phyllis.barnes@gleanerna.net NEW YORK Garfield Grandison - Manager garfield.grandison@gleanerna.net Normadelle Rose - Office Supervisor normadelle.rose@gleanerna.net 92-05 172nd Street, Jamaica, NY 11433, 718-657-0788 Aubrey Campbell aubreycgleaner@gmail.com