Posted on 05/23/2005 11:23:27 AM PDT by madfly
Finally, someone in government has offered a rational proposal to help solve the nation's chronic illegal immigration problem. Interestingly, the idea has been before us for years.Robert Bonner, Customs and Border Protection commissioner, suggested to members of the House Government Reform Committee last week the Border Patrol begin to train and utilize scores of civilian volunteers, as a cost-saving force multiplier aimed at boosting the pairs of eyes along our porous southwestern border.
"We need more Border Patrol agents, there's no question about that," Bonner said. But in recognition of the cold, hard fiscal facts, he also knows he's not going to get the kinds of substantial numbers he says he needs anytime soon.
Last fall Congress authorized the hiring of another 2,000 agents. Due to persistent red ink, however, President Bush has pared that number down to just 210 in the 2006 budget.
Even a couple thousand more agents won't do the trick. Bonner, in a follow-up interview with Government Executive magazine, said the Border Patrol would need upwards of 50,000 agents (it currently fields about 11,000) to adequately patrol the nation's northern and southern borders.
The only way to get those kinds of numbers rapidly is to deploy the military along our borders – not likely since the armed forces are stretched thin in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, and there is no political will to do so – or take Bonner up on his suggestion and put willing volunteers to good use.
As the 850-plus volunteers with the Minuteman Project proved in April, when they deployed along a section of Arizona border, not only will the extra eyes help deter illegal immigration, but civilians can be counted on to augment Border Patrol agents without causing major incidents.
Bonner specifically acknowledged this in testimony before the House committee. "The actions of the Minutemen were, I believe, well motivated," he said. "There were no incidents, there were no acts of vigilantism, and that's a tribute to the organizers and leaders of the Minuteman Project."
He went on to note the obvious: That historically the government has relied on civilians to be "the eyes and ears of the Border Patrol along the border."
"We value citizens' help. The question would be, 'is there a way to ... better and more effectively harness the citizen volunteers?'" he said. "That is something we are looking at. I don't have the answer. But we want any kind of force multiplier we can get. But if we're going to do it, I think it's important we recognize the border is a dangerous area, and we want to be able to provide at least some insights and possibly even training to any citizens volunteering to go down."
No one knows how dangerous and out-of-control areas of the U.S.-Mexico border are better than many of the volunteers and residents who have weathered the immigration storm for years. If anything, they can teach Washington a thing or two about what it takes to get our borders under control.
Nevertheless, the fact that a high-ranking federal official has even suggested using willing civilians to augment our overwhelmed Border Patrol is a huge step in the right direction.
Suburban and rural communities for decades have had their own "neighborhood watch" programs, whereby residents keep a lookout for shady activities and alert police when problems arise. That's all the Minuteman Project – and similar, prior civilian initiatives – ever sought to accomplish.
Congress would be well advised to take Bonner's proposition and run with it.
Jon E. Dougherty is author of Illegals: The Imminent Threat Posed by our Unsecured U.S.-Mexico Border, and editor of Voices Magazine.
In the past few years he has made a more than a few trips reporting on the border and Cochise County.
http://www.voicesmag.com/
Bump for the "Undocumented Border Patrol" LOL
aka the "Minutemen"...coming to a border state near you...
How long after they're "harnessed" before they turn into one more govt. mandated program being ordered to look the other way or 'stand down'? Maybe they could make it part of the lefty 'school to work' program, or 'voluntary service' program (only mandatory).
Too big govt. is the problem, now. This needs to stay in the hands of "we the people".
We need some teeth put in the law for CRIMINAL INVADERS.
I suggest it be made a felony with 1 year in jail and a $10,000 dollar fine.
People who aid, abet and or hire these CRIMINAL INVADERS should be found guilty of a felony with 1 year in jail and a $10,000 fine for each one.
Stop the rotting of the head and you save the whole border control agency..
Only thing wrong with border control is at the TOP.. not the bottom..
How about bringing back any combat arms/MP vets at their same grade of pay when they left the service? Bring them in under DoD funding so the president can't cut the funds for them.
It would be more accurate to say that civilians, free men, should never, can never be expected to, and cannot be compelled to, rely on the government to protect them.
No free government was ever founded, or ever preserved its liberty, without uniting the characters of the citizen and soldier in those destined for the defense of the state...such are a well-regulated militia, composed of the freeholders, citizen and husbandman, who take up arms to preserve their property, as individuals, and their rights as freemen.
- Richard Henry Lee
How about just enforcing the immigration laws, like employment, homes, and cars. The illegals would deport themselves when they could get no job, no housing, and no cars.
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Be Ever Vigilant!
Minutemen Patriots ~ Bump!
I don't know how anyone can believe the lie Bush told about not having enough money. The fact is, Bush doesn't want the border patrol he's got. He would be more than happy if there were no guards at the border, so his plan to destroy America with illegals would go forward faster.
A great idea!
Thanks for calling illegal aliens what they really are! Why won't our government acknowledge this? Why won't most of the media acknowledge this? Americans from the invaded states certainly acknowledge it because we live with the mess every day, and we're forced to pay the bills too.
BTTT for common sense!!
How many government slots would be freed up by dismantling the IRS and the Dept of Ed.? Oh! and how about the DEA and the BATF?
There! Problem solved.
I don't think Bush's plan is to "Destroy America". But that the ruling class in this country does want something very different than the rest of us is obvious.
What kind of nation will we be when the ruling class's policies bring us two kinds of people - the rich and the destitute (us). Read up on the 30's here in America. That's our future again.
Our military is currently in 135 countries! Every damn place except where it is needed most, on our borders protecting the people who foot the bill.
Does it show that I am fed up paying for the rest of the world to live safer than we do?
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