Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Illegals flow into Arizona like water through a broken dam
Manchester Union Leader ^ | May 7, 2005 | Renee Downing

Posted on 05/07/2005 5:09:05 AM PDT by billorites

LIKE MANY other southern Arizonans, I am deeply grateful to the few dozen vigilantes calling themselves Minutemen who set up camp along the Arizona-Mexico border last month. That few people around here were much impressed with a bunch of retirees in camouflage playing soldier, and that there turned out to be almost as many reporters as patriots on the ground, was irrelevant: We were just thrilled by the publicity. We’ve been trying to get the rest of the country to notice what’s going on down here for years.

U.S. immigration policy has turned the Arizona desert between Tucson and the border into a nightmare zone of suffering, death, destruction and terrible ironies, and the people who live here are sick to death of it. Human beings, fragile desert and a whole way of life are perishing, and no one out there seems to care.

For example: Ten days ago, the U.S. Border Patrol rescued 77 “illegal entrants” stranded in a barren stretch of desert 20 miles west of Tucson. After walking for five days, they’d overpowered their coyote (people smuggler), taken his cell phone, called 911 and written “Help” in big letters in the sand. Temperatures were in the 90s, and the group had run out of water the day before. Four people were taken to the hospital by ambulance for hyperthermia and dehydration; two stopped breathing while being examined. The story was so familiar, though, that the morning paper didn’t bother to run a follow-up.

The first thing to understand about the border is that the immediate problem isn’t so much the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who flood into the United States from Mexico every year. It’s our government’s response to them. While President Bush and others are trying to shape a realistic, orderly guest-worker program, one that would be more humane and presumably free up law enforcement to chase smugglers and terrorists, policy on the ground is to keep everyone out.

From a free-market point of view, this movement of people looks like a classic example of the law of supply and demand. Mexico is poor, overpopulated, intensely corrupt and has a nearly limitless supply of cheap, willing labor. Thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement, competition with inexpensive American corn has ruined tens of thousands of small Mexican farmers, while many of the light manufacturing plants just south of the border that drew so many northward a decade ago have moved operations to Asia. People are going hungry.

The United States, on the other hand, is rich and needs workers who will take jobs Americans don’t want, for lower wages than Americans will accept. (Try this thought experiment: Imagine suggesting that your teen-ager take a summer job picking melons for 12 hours a day in California.) If, by magic, the Minutemen’s dreams were granted overnight — if the border were sealed and the estimated 11 million people living in this country illegally were deported — America would most likely be unrecognizable, and not in a good way. Crops would rot in the fields, bathrooms would stay dirty, mothers of small children would be stuck at home. America is addicted to cheap labor, and withdrawal is beyond contemplation.

Still, we maintain the pretense that we don’t want a docile underclass of workers coming into the United States, and we keep trying to catch them as they cross an increasingly policed border.

The militarization of what had been a fairly porous border started in the 1980s with Ronald Reagan’s “war on drugs,” but began in earnest in 1994, when the Border Patrol mounted Operation Gatekeeper and started building a fence between San Diego and Tijuana, eventually closing the entire California-Mexico border except for one small, environmentally sensitive gap. Then Operation Hold the Line at El Paso and Operation Rio Grande further east shut down most of the Texas border. These changes did not stop the traffic; they simply funneled it into New Mexico and Arizona.

Operation Safeguard was implemented here in Arizona in the border town of Nogales, where a fence went up dividing the American and Sonoran sides of town and diverting migrants out into the desert. The theory on our side seemed to be that no one would be desperate enough to try to cross 50 waterless miles of the Sonoran or Chihuahan desert on foot.

This supposition has proved to be wrong. The Border Patrol’s apprehensions between Oct. 1, 2003, and Sept. 30, 2004, in the Tucson sector totaled 491,771, or 1,347 per day, but the population of undocumented immigrants “has been growing robustly during most of the period of ‘concentrated border enforcement’,” according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. The crossing has not become impossible, just more expensive and dangerous. Since 2000, more than 750 migrants have been found dead in the Arizona desert, according to county medical examiners. And from January 1995 through May 2004, more than 2,600 people have died along the whole border — roughly one death per day, 10 times the rate before operations began. These are just the documented deaths. No one knows how many more lie out there unknown, unrecovered and unrecoverable — after skeletons bleach in the sun long enough, cows and other animals eat them for the calcium.

Driving around the spectacular country south of Tucson, it’s hard to get your mind around the drama taking place just out of sight. A precarious trail along the slopes of the Baboquivari Mountains to the southwest, for instance, became a popular route last year because it’s so hard to patrol. Looking up at the shining white scopes of the National Observatory on Kitt Peak, at the towering sacred monolith of Baboquivari Peak further south, it’s hard to believe that dozens of human beings could be risking their lives on those rugged slopes even as you watch. Anyone who takes a bad fall along that trail is unlikely ever to be found.

The strategy of driving border crossers out into the wilds has also been hell on the people who live north of the line. Ranchers’ land has been covered with trash, their fences cut, livestock scattered, water tanks fouled and property destroyed. Some have given up and left, but it’s hard to sell out because people already know about the trouble. Residents of small, isolated towns have been faced by sudden buildups of equipment and personnel. The Border Patrol set up a “Special Operations” base over the ridge from the tiny settlement of Arivaca without informing inhabitants that 10 large trailers, 10 to 30 trucks, generators, stadium lights and night operations involving helicopters were about to become a feature of their lives for the foreseeable future.

At an emotional meeting held in the Arivaca civic center recently, several people who own land along the ridge poured out their frustration. You build your house next to a wildlife refuge, you tend to think your peace is guaranteed. The Border Patrol was invited to the meeting but did not attend.

The worst and most lasting damage to the landscape, though, is in the 90 percent of the border land that’s owned and theoretically protected by the U.S. government. A chain of wildlife preserves and other protected areas, including Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, is being destroyed, first by the footpaths and litter left by the migrants; second, and more seriously, by quasi-military activities of the Border Patrol.

The Border Patrol is flying Black Hawk helicopters and driving all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles around rare, beautiful desert lands, and no amount of complaint from locals, land managers or environmentalists has slowed them down. It is illegal to take vehicles off-road in national parks and preserves, and illegal for citizens to pull off the awful dirt roads of the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge anyplace where the soil is undisturbed, or to drive at all when the ground is wet. Cabeza Prieta, home to the last 40 Sonoran pronghorn antelope in the United States, is the wildest and driest of American deserts. The Border Patrol has a major base of operations within the refuge. The remaining traces of the centuries-old Camino del Diablo, the Devil’s Highway, have been obliterated, and miles of delicate desert turned to moonscape.

In spite of the collateral damage, what happens next will be more of the same. This March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner announced that the patrol is more than doubling the number of helicopters and planes along the Arizona border and bringing in 534 more agents.

Local opinion on the buildup ranges from outrage among social activists who want an open border all the way to approval from those who think “those people don’t belong here.” Recent immigrants from the Midwest who don’t know or care that Tucson has always been a “brown town” and the desperate ranchers along the border are pleased, if not convinced. Others are horrified that the government, finding that what it’s doing isn’t working, simply proposes to do more of it, and to do it here. The majority just want the whole mess to go away.

And so we who love this beautiful, dying region now live in a sort of occupied zone within our own nation, pinioned by politicians’ indifference and officials’ lack of imagination. We expect another bad summer.

Renee Downing is a freelance writer who has lived in southern Arizona for more than 30 years.


TOPICS: Mexico; News/Current Events; US: Arizona
KEYWORDS: 109th; 2006elections; 3rdworld; affirmativeaction; aliens; arizona; az; border; borderpolice; bordersecurity; bordersheriffs; buildthewall; bushamnesty; ca; calborder; california; cannon; cedillo; cedillosucks; closetheborder; commies; dhs; disease; diversity; education; endlatinlobby; englishlanguage; gangs; gingrich; hanes; hatingamericans; haynes; healthcare; illegalaliens; illegalimmigration; illegals; imigration; immigrantlist; immigration; internationallaw; lapd; losangeles; ma; maldef; mecha; mexa; mikecarona; minutemen; mmp; ms13; newjersey; newmexico; newt; ningunaentradailegal; nj; nm; not1moredime; nv; ny; oneworlders; or; pc; pckills; politalcorrectness; quotas; racialquotas; rayhanes; rayhaynes; realid; rescuecalifornia; screwlaraza; screwmaldef; screwmecha; shadowparty; supporttheusbp; tancredo; texas; tx; ushouse; ut; utah; voterid; wef; whereisgeorgebush; wto; yourtownnext
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140 ... 221-226 next last
To: freedumb2003

The tide has turned. I'm planning to be on the border when the MinuteMen come to San Diego in June.


101 posted on 05/07/2005 11:19:25 AM PDT by onyx (Pope John Paul II - May 18, 1920 - April 2, 2005 = SANTO SUBITO!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 97 | View Replies]

To: Dane

lol


102 posted on 05/07/2005 11:19:49 AM PDT by mthom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 100 | View Replies]

To: Dane

Whatever.


103 posted on 05/07/2005 11:28:45 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (First you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women (HJ Simpson))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 98 | View Replies]

To: billorites
The Arizona Revised Statutes may give a hint as to what to do:

"26-122. Components of militia A. The militia is divided into the national guard of Arizona, the state guard when organized, and the unorganized militia. B. The national guard consists of commissioned officers, warrant officers, enlisted personnel, organizations, staffs, corps and departments of the federally recognized and regularly commissioned, warranted and enlisted militia of the state, organized and maintained pursuant to law, and all members thereof honorably retired by age or disability. C. The numerical strength, composition, distribution, organization, arms, uniforms, equipment, training and discipline of the federally recognized national guard shall be prescribed by the governor in conformity with the allocation of units to the state by the department of the army and the department of the air force of the United States. D. The inactive national guard consists of commissioned, warranted and enlisted personnel relieved from assignment to the national guard by the adjutant general, or at their own request, under regulations prescribed by the department of national defense of the United States, and not reassigned to another component of the armed forces of the United States. E. The unorganized militia consists of members of the militia not members of the national guard or state guard when organized. 26-124. Service by members of unorganized militia; volunteers during emergency; enrollment; selection; organizing selectees A. When the governor proclaims an emergency, and, upon advice of the adjutant general, determines that the national guard does not have sufficient troops to meet the emergency, the governor may authorize the adjutant general to accept for service from the unorganized militia a specified number of volunteers. B. If the governor deems an emergency of a nature that all or a large portion of the unorganized militia should be called into service of the state, he shall by proclamation order all members of the unorganized militia to enroll with the county recorder of the county in which they reside. The enrollment shall be in triplicate stating the full name, residence, age, occupation and previous service of each person enrolled. The rolls shall be verified by the enrolling officer who shall retain one copy and file one copy with the adjutant general and one with the clerk of the superior court of the county in which the person is enrolled. The persons called into service shall be determined by lot in accordance with a plan devised by the governor and implemented by him. The plan shall be patterned upon the latest selective service act of the United States and executive orders of the president issued to implement the law. C. Upon mobilization for state purposes members of the unorganized militia shall be organized under the command of the officer the governor designates into units comparable to units of the national guard."

104 posted on 05/07/2005 11:30:42 AM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS (Further, the statement assumed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #105 Removed by Moderator

To: billorites

And it will soon become a tidal wave to eventually turn into a tsunami.

This open border lunacy has got to stop or we're finished as a sovereign nation. Good bye America. Good bye Western Christian culture. Hello undesirable alien cultures!


106 posted on 05/07/2005 11:36:49 AM PDT by Baraonda (Demographic is destiny. Don't hire 3rd world illegal aliens nor support businesses that hire them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #107 Removed by Moderator

To: Dane

The real issue is not amenable to sound bites, which is why you guys never can make your point. We are not talking about the "Berlin wall" nor are we arguing about "a nation of immigrants." Nor are these concerns dismissable as "gloom and doom." Try critical thinking instead of cliches, and discover a whole new world.


108 posted on 05/07/2005 11:52:37 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: IslamoCommieObserver
Boot Hill was a fabulous FReeper; a stalwart and thoroughly informed advocate for our side. Regretfully, BH is banned from here.
109 posted on 05/07/2005 12:06:55 PM PDT by onyx (Pope John Paul II - May 18, 1920 - April 2, 2005 = SANTO SUBITO!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 105 | View Replies]

Comment #110 Removed by Moderator

To: primeval patriot

A big part of the problem is American workers don't HAVE to clean bathrooms or pick crops in the sun. We provide welfare and all sorts of entitlements to people who don't deserve them. So they would be stupid to take a menial or low paying job and insist their kids behave and learn in school to better themselves. Thanks to the democrats we now have a welfare state and students who video tape their teachers.

I for one am tired of supporting the LEGAL citizens who don't want to work.


111 posted on 05/07/2005 12:18:19 PM PDT by Recovering Ex-hippie (GET REAL: Prosecute employers who hire illegals=end of problem.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Know your rights

AMEN!


112 posted on 05/07/2005 12:19:02 PM PDT by Recovering Ex-hippie (GET REAL: Prosecute employers who hire illegals=end of problem.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Dane

yOU'RE RIGHT.
However, they are the only ones. I do give them credit for their reporting on that.


113 posted on 05/07/2005 12:20:28 PM PDT by Recovering Ex-hippie (GET REAL: Prosecute employers who hire illegals=end of problem.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: IslamoCommieObserver

Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!

Be Ever Vigilant!

Minutemen Patriots ~ Bump!


114 posted on 05/07/2005 12:50:17 PM PDT by blackie (Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: onyx
Dane is a good FReeper

Thanks for the laugh.

115 posted on 05/07/2005 1:22:44 PM PDT by ActionNewsBill ("In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 78 | View Replies]

To: ActionNewsBill


FOTFL. Your welcome.
I'm so nice. :)


116 posted on 05/07/2005 1:59:18 PM PDT by onyx (Pope John Paul II - May 18, 1920 - April 2, 2005 = SANTO SUBITO!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 115 | View Replies]

To: Dane
You all should really get off, and in this I mean, the addictive race baiting ways of tom tancredo rhetoric.

Can you give an example of "race baiting ways of tom tancredo rhetoric"?

117 posted on 05/07/2005 3:20:08 PM PDT by judgeandjury
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: Dane
Don't you and travis have a bircher meeting to attend to.

Don't you have a La Raza meeting to attend to?

118 posted on 05/07/2005 3:21:48 PM PDT by judgeandjury
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 94 | View Replies]

To: billorites

Nothing is going to change. Cheap labor is the foundation of our economy. The socialistic economy we have built depends on a certain growth rate in population as well. Since we don't have enough babies we need the immigrants. Somebody has to pay for my social security checks.

This is just the way it is. As I've said many times before ... work at stoping all wellfare and build more prisons as we force these hispanics to become adapted honest Americans because keeping them out is not really an option.

Yes it's a crappy situation but reversing it is absolutely impossible.


119 posted on 05/07/2005 3:50:37 PM PDT by mercy (never again a patsy for Bill Gates - spyware and viri free for over a year now)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: onyx
Boot Hill was a fabulous FReeper; a stalwart and thoroughly informed advocate for our side. Regretfully, BH is banned from here

If someone gave boot a copy of Dale Carnegies's book it would spontaneoulsy combust in his hands due to his and others on his side hubris.

Going to other web sites and crying like a two year old about the owner of this site is not a way "to win friends and influence people".

Oh well I guess grown adults crying like 2 years olds is a fabulous proposition to you, and thus you support it.

120 posted on 05/07/2005 4:43:41 PM PDT by Dane ( anyone who believes hillary would do something to stop illegal immigration is believing gibberish)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 109 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140 ... 221-226 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson