The past few months have been a testament to the dangerous levels of anti-immigrant sentiment the current administration has inflamed within certain segments of our society.

First, a heavily armed militia group wearing military-style camo, face masks, and fake badges invaded Southern New Mexico and commenced possibly detaining migrant families with children at gunpoint. Hot on their heels, seemingly out of nowhere, came an outside group calling themselves We Build the Wall to build a half-mile of steel border fencing in Sunland Park, N.M., without first obtaining the proper construction permits or environmental impact reports. Then, when the Sunland Park officials sought to halt the project until the group went through the proper channels, We Build the Wall — working alongside the same armed vigilantes — mobilized their supporters to pressure Sunland Park city officials to allow them to resume construction.

Now we find ourselves in a new chapter of this increasingly bizarre and lawless tale of anti-immigrant hate and extremism. We Build the Wall, again without obtaining permission or a permit, built a massive steel gate across a federal public road, blocking access to Monument One, a monument listed on the National Register of Historic Places that has marked the start of the land boundary between New Mexico, Texas and Mexico since 1855.

Monument One sits on land administered by the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission, a binational agency bound by treaty to administer the waterways that form part of our southern border with Mexico, and over the past century, the marker has become a place of historical and cultural significance for border residents. It’s a location popular with school field trips and a symbol of binational identity, unity, and goodwill. With the unauthorized installation of the gate, We Build the Wall unilaterally locked the community out of their own culture and history.

Earlier this week, after hundreds of New Mexicans reached out to IBWC to protest the private wall built on public property, officials removed the private lock from the gate and chained it open. True to form, the vigilante group and We Build the Wall immediately resumed their bullying and intimidation tactics.

It’s no wonder the group so brazenly flouts the law and terrorizes anyone standing in its way.  Behind the project are President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant cronies, Steve Bannon and Kris Kobach. When you’re doing the president's bidding — and stealing tactics right from his playbook — it’s easy to feel confident no repercussions will befall you.

This kind of behavior has no place in New Mexico, and it’s time to stand up to these out-of-state anti-immigrant bullies who have run roughshod over our border communities these past months. The IBWC did the right thing by forcing the gate to remain open. Now, they should continue to do the right thing by denying all permit applications for private construction of barriers on public property, removing the unauthorized gate, and requiring that We Build the Wall remediate public land to its prior state.

Our border communities deserve better than to be used as a backdrop for a racist and xenophobic publicity stunt that cuts us off from our history and threatens our environment. Our border region is home to a rich cultural heritage, economically vibrant communities, stunning natural beauty, and some of the safest cities in America. We deserve a little respect. Unfortunately, all we’ve been offered thus far by We Build the Wall and their gun-toting vigilante acolytes are threats, intimidation and half a mile of ugly steel rusting in the desert sun.

This op-ed was originally published in the El Paso Times.

Incarcerated and denied medical care.

“As I sat there in the cold hospital waiting room, dreading the moments and days ahead, the other women I arrived with came back smiling,” said Jennifer. “To see photos of their ultrasounds while waiting for a surgery that would rob me of the chance to be a mother was like rubbing salt in my wound.”

Every time Jennifer* looks at herself naked she sees the scar across her abdomen and is taken back to the day she underwent a full hysterectomy. She remembers how prior to her surgery, she spent three years in continuous agony, pleading with correctional officers for help in Grants, New Mexico.

“I could never understand why it was so difficult for them to show me just a shred of compassion… a shred of humanity"

When she runs her fingers across the smooth blemish, Jennifer wonders if she ever would have developed advanced endometrial cancer if only prison staff would have taken her to get a biopsy sooner, rather than blaming her vaginal bleeding on her weight and prescribing birth control, which in fact worsened her condition.

“I could never understand why it was so difficult for them to show me just a shred of compassion… a shred of humanity,” said Jennifer through tears. “I left the hospital just five days after my surgery, with 27 staples still in my abdomen, and the prison couldn’t even be bothered to change my bandages.”

With no one else to turn to, Jennifer took to using sanitary napkins to keep her wound clean, but despite her best efforts, she developed a life-threatening infection known as MRSA. The prison delayed removing her staples for so long that her skin began to heal over them, making removal difficult and painful. Eventually Jennifer’s wound and infection healed, but years of torment and neglect left her with emotional scars that are still fresh.

Sadly, Jennifer’s story is not unique.

Every day, women behind bars suffer from treatable physical and mental illnesses. But they are ignored or forgotten. Their treatment is delayed. And when they finally receive it, care is inadequate. All too often, the consequences of this neglect are dire.

Our country’s penchant for punishment over tackling the root causes of crime has created a criminal justice system wherein tragedy and death are expected outcomes. Treating imprisonment as the only answer to violations of the law — or even possible violations of the law — has made us blind to people’s humanity and blind to the harm that results not just for incarcerated people, but for entire families and communities.

The ACLU of New Mexico is fighting to end this cruel system. We are documenting the stories of incarcerated people who have been denied medical care and who have suffered at the hands of prison staff, and we are working tirelessly to institute protections through administrative processes, the legislature, and the courts.

"My cancer could come back at any moment and what will happen if I don’t get the treatment I need?"

Nearly forty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Estelle v. Gamble that ignoring a prisoner’s serious medical needs amounts to cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. As the Court pointed out, incarcerated individuals are completely dependent upon prison authorities for every necessity, including treatment of their medical needs. If staff refuse to help them, they have no other recourse.

Just last month, Jennifer reached out to us after the facility where she is incarcerated refused to take her to a three-month follow-up appointment concerning a lump in her breast. We wrote the prison a letter demanding they make immediate arrangements for Jennifer to see her doctor, and reminding the prison that deliberate indifference to Jennifer’s medical needs constitutes a violation of her rights under the United States Constitution.

“My biggest fear is that I will slip through the cracks again,” Jennifer said. “My cancer could come back at any moment and what will happen if I don’t get the treatment I need? I know one thing — I won’t stop fighting for myself or for all the other women in here struggling to get their basic needs met.”

*Our client’s name has been changed to protect her identity.