Our communities are told that the immigration “issue” will be dealt with after health care reform. But what we are seeing is that while there may not be a bill in play, there are moves being made by the Obama administration and the latest is to treat immigration the same way the U.S. has treated Iraq and Afghanistan.

Predator drones, the unmanned aircraft used by the U.S. military in the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones, will soon be employed to track illegal immigrants on the Mexico-California border.

The drone, which will be unveiled later today, will be operated out of the Antelope Valley by the military contractor General Atomics. The drones will fly above the border region with advancing electronic tracking equipment looking for illegal immigrants crossing into California

Apparently such aircraft has been in use along parts of the Southern and Northern borders, out of bases in Arizona and North Dakota. The use of the aircraft is being touted as an attempt to curb smuggling which is no doubt a way to gain support. After all, who isn’t against human smuggling? What really is happening though is the same use of language put forth in order to gain support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just like Bush made people think of entire countries as “terrorists”, the use of military tools steps up the enforcement rhetoric up a notch. We have the war on drugs, the war on terrorism, and now the war on immigrants.

What this partially represents is a new funding source for defense contractors. It’s no coincidence that the same company who is running the drones just broke ground on a new defense plant.

Remember when I asked whose immigration strategy would win? It looks like we might have another contender, the U.S. military.

Via / Boing Boing, L.A. Now, Kolken & Kolken