Review of The Fence

By Claire Shin & Linghan Wang


On Thursday, July 16, we watched an HBO documentary called The Fence. On October 2006, President Bush signed the Secure Fence Act of 2006 that started a project to build a fence hundreds of miles along the US-Mexico border. According to the documentary, the project utilized 12 designs, hired 19 construction companies, 350 engineers and more than 7,000 construction workers.


So what project was this exactly? Was it an economic stimulus plan that created new jobs through construction of the fence? Aside from any economic function that the construction might serve, the fence was primarily built with the goal to prevent terrorism, drug smuggling and illegal immigration from entering into the United States from the US-Mexico border.


Quoted during the documentary, President Kennedy once proudly said, “we [had] yet to build a wall” to impede free human migration within and across the United States and other countries; now the US government decided to build a wall due to concerns that immigrants that crossed the border illegally posed a threat to the national security.


However, the fence project was not properly equipped with the technical capacity to perform the designated function. The U.S. government had spent 30 years at Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge building an inhabitable and vital living space for wildlife animals. Despite reiterating several times that it would try its best to protect wildlife, the U.S. government ate its words by building the fence right through the refuge, separating many animals from their sources of food and water.

It was unsurprising that damages were incurred not just to animals. During the rainy season, a portion of the fence in Arizona became a virtual dam that withheld water on the Mexican side and impeded the water flow into U.S. territory. With 20 feet of water drowning the town, compared to only 6 inches on the U.S. side, many family businesses were destroyed or forced to relocate to other areas.

Compared to the insurmountable costs of construction of the fence, was it adequately executing the task of preventing terrorism, narcotics or illegal immigration? In actuality, the government might be aiming at a false target. Of the 29 people who committed terrorist acts in the United States in the last quarter of century, 24 arrived through plane and 5 were born on native soil. Sadly the fence was unable to effectively prevent either drug smuggling or illegal immigration, as the criminal groups were always able to find new ways to respond to the barriers positioned to stop them.

On August 8, the staff and interns will be visiting Stewart Detention Center at Lumpkin, GA, where many undocumented immigrants and many people who overstayed their visas are detained. We will be able to meet the detainees in person and might also be able to provide them with language assistance. Many Mexicans attempted to cross the border into this country carrying the hope for better living conditions and more optimal occupational opportunities. Though many have lived in the detention center for years, each and every one of them deserved proper human dignity as a birthright, and Asian American Advancing Justice -Atlanta is determined to help them preserve that right.

[It's the Interns] Meet Saisha Mediratta

It is time to meet our AMAZING Interns!

Advancing Justice-Atlanta Interns are here and "It's the Interns" series goes in-depth about who is working behind and in front of the scene to Build Power for Good in the South!

·    Hello! Tell us little about yourself

My name is Saisha Mediratta, and I am a rising senior at Northview High School.  I immigrated to the United States when I was 1 to Long Island, New York. I am the Captain of Northview’s Speech and Debate Team and the President of my school’s Advanced Choir. I’ve been a part of Girl Scouts for 13 years which has provided me with a unique cultural experience because of my community’s diverse demographics. I love to dance, sing, camp, kayak and read in my free time.

·    What made you decide to apply for this internship?

I applied for this internship after co-founding New American Youth Leaders, a youth group based at the High School level, which promotes the same issues as Advancing Justice. I got the opportunity to work with Ms. Helen and the Advancing Justice team at several canvassing events and voter registration booths, and I saw a tangible change in the Asian American community. People came and asked question, picked up flyers, contacted the organization, etc… I knew I wanted to do what I could to bring opportunities and outlets that my own family struggled for, to a larger group, and also promote civic engagement among those already capable.

·    What is your expectation and what would you like to get out of the internship experience?

Advancing Justice has become a voice for many Asian Americans being discriminated against system, and controlling that voice is an enormous responsibility. I hope to gain a wider knowledge of the struggles facing the Asian American community apart from those I have witnessed firsthand, so that I too can become a voice to advocate for a community that I care so passionately about. Through an understanding of these issues, I hope to learn how to engage these groups in more productive solutions than those that are offered more publicly, and empower members of the Asian American community to utilize their rights as citizens to advance policies and candidates that represent them.

·    Tell us your personal narrative on being Asian in America

From a young age, I experienced a duality in identity. Although I would never truly be Indian, I would never truly be “American” either. However, the experiences from both cultures, both so diverse, have given me a unique perspective on issues that face both communities. I can see the social hierarchy of India objectively because I am not fully immersed in that society, and I can also see America’s more liberal culture from a conservative perspective, while maintaining my own beliefs and ideas distinct from both points of view. My parents faced their own struggles as immigrants, and although we received our citizenship several years ago, my cousins continue to face bureaucratic barriers to their status as citizens. The path is unique and unimaginable, affecting everything from their education to their financial aid to their health insurance.

·    What role would you like to play in Asian American Community in the future?

I hope that my share of experiences can help those facing a similar situation. Carlos Slim once said that “It’s important to give a better country to your children, but it is more important to give better children to your country.” I firmly believe that only by educating and informing the New American leaders of our country can we hope to inspire positive change. I don’t think I would have celebrated who I was if it wasn’t for mentors and role models so successfully utilizing their background as a strength rather than just a fact.  I have the privilege of coming across so many young girls experiencing the same identity issues I was through Girl Scouts, and by sharing my experiences and work, I hope to inspire them to do the same for someone else.

·    What is your song of the year?

Elastic Heart-Sia because Sia is a singing goddess 

·    Any Last words???

I’m super excited to be a part of this organization, and I hope to continue with Advancing Justice in the future. 

Welcome to Advancing Justice-Atlanta Blog

About Us

• Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta (formerly Asian American Legal Advocacy Center or AALAC) is the first non-profit law center dedicated to Asian immigrants and refugees (“Asian Americans”) in the Southeast.

Our goal is to engage, educate and empower under-represented Asian Americans to greater civic participation.

We are one of five independent organizations that make up the national Asian Americans Advancing Justice. Together with our affiliates in Chicago, DC, Los Angeles and San Francisco, we bring more than 100 years of collective experience in addressing the civil rights issues faced by Asian Americans and other vulnerable and under served communities.

• We design policy rooted in the South. We publish public policy analyses and know-your-rights education primarily focused on local and regional issues, and translate most of our work into Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese. Our key issue areas are immigration, education and voting rights.

• We are a leader in immigrant civic engagement work. We register voters year-round; provide assistance and capacity to new immigrant and refugee leaders; train and organize hundreds of volunteers to work with us in the field to build a New American electorate.   When underrepresented communities are active in civic life the common good is strengthened for everyone.

• We defend the rights of people and communities. AAAJ-Atlanta is the first nonprofit law center dedicated to protecting and promoting the civil, social and economic rights of Asian immigrants and refugees in the South. We take on select campaigns or lawsuits that expose or challenge the people, policies and systems that violate the rights of immigrants and refugees.