[Delta-Tango]

Straight talk from heroes on the *other* front line.

[South40]

Excellent article. Unfortunately, it will be dismissed by those who think the ILLEGAL immigration problem is due to the inadaquacies of the BP.

Bush's faulty policy is a slap in the face to all the hard working men and women who put their lives on the line each day protecting our borders.

[Land of the Free 04]

nearly three dozen current and former agents across the nation called Bush's proposal an insult to the thousands of men and women who have devoted their careers to fighting illegal immigration

With all due respect for their work, and speaking as a throw-em-all-out advocate, this is like saying that ending Prohibition was an insult to the men who devoted their careers to fighting rumrunning.

[Mamzelle]

Poor guys. Looks like unwilling administration support of willing border agents.

[onedoug]

Does the Border Patrol have a general view on H1B visas? Just curious.

[primeval patriot]

Immigration experts, however, said the agents' lobbying effort likely will have little effect on the debate.

They're affecting the debate to such a degree that the LA Times has to run a story to tell us they're doomed to failure.

"The business community, AFL-CIO and the immigrant community are the political forces that are going to determine whether the president's proposal passes"

Are we supposed to believe there's no other opposition besides the Border Patrol?

[Viking2002]

I hope this whole thing is a cleverly veiled scheme of Dubya's, and he's planning on it to tank. He's got a serious portion of his base PO'd at him.

[djreece]

Border Patrol Bump

[MainFrame65]

I'm sorry, but I see it differently. Of course they were short of resources, but the fact is that MILLIONS of illegals have entered during the time when these people were SUPPOSED to be keeping them out. That is failure on a massive scale, and this article is the bitter residue of it.

I have experienced both success and failure in my life, and I hate failing. Excuses are always comforting, but every excuse is, by definition, WHY YOU FAILED. Now I believe that failure to control the borders must be shared by many others, but the presence of so many illegals within the Country is a fact that must be dealt with realistically, not by soundbite solutions.

Particularly since 09/11, we have realized the necessity to address this problem in a new way. Now we must think of true enemies, those who mean to injure, terrorize, and kill us instead of just avail themselves of our bounty. And the a major part of that is to deal with the problem of the millions already here that we can't even identify.

The border patrol has an average of about 3 agents per mile along the Mexican border. But they have to cover 3 shifts (24 hours), 7 days a week. And they also have to concentrate most of their efforts at the entry points, leaving mile after mile unguarded much of the time. Air patrols and technology help, but arrests require agents, and a single agent is potentially as much a target as an enforcer. Also, away from authorized entry points, this is security and guard duty. Anyone crossing out here is breaking the law.

In order to truly seal the border against both kind of intruders, even the remotest part of the border needs to have two or three man patrols, 24x7x365, going by often, and not so far apart that they cannot effectively reinforce and fill in for each other. This would take the equivalent of at least two Army divisions - and the US Army has just 10 active divisions now.

And then, what about the border with Canada? And the East and West Coasts?

The fact is, we are beefing up the border patrol, and adding more technology to help them, but it will not approach sealing our borders for years. And we will not and can not just round up all the illegals already here - both a manpower and an intelligence problem. So the next best is to make a list, as the President's proposal will do.

Also, we need to pass legislation that confers citizenship on those born here ONLY when the mother is here legally, to end the "anchor baby" problem. And we need to allow - and encourage - states to deny benefits to illegals. The courts have interfered with this, so it might require curbing the courts with a Constitutional amendment. I might support that, for several reasons.

[k2blader]

Bump!