U.S. Border, Illegal Immigrants, Minutemen, & The ACLU
USA Today Editorial
Border is right problem, 'Minutemen' wrong answer
They've come from across the USA to a scrubby stretch of Arizona's border, carrying binoculars and video cameras, sometimes a weapon and always a conviction that the U.S. border with Mexico is a sieve. The Minuteman Project, a self-styled "neighborhood watch" patrolling a 23-mile swath of desert to spot illegal aliens, has attracted hordes of TV cameras and thrown a spotlight on a festering national problem — the estimated 600,000 illegal immigrants who cross the border each year, elude capture and stay.
Certainly, the "Minutemen" have scored a publicity coup that has put burrs under the saddles of the Border Patrol and even President Bush, who has called them "vigilantes."
If that were the end of it, the Minutemen might declare victory, go home and lobby for solutions to illegal immigration — answers that don't lie in citizen posses.
Trouble is, the Minutemen plan to stay on patrol until the end of the month, perhaps longer, and perhaps expanding to other states, according to co-founder Chris Simcox. Half of the more than 600 volunteers carry guns, perfectly legal in Arizona but potentially dangerous when mixed with anger over immigration. It is a job meant for law enforcement professionals.
As of Wednesday, the volunteers had essentially stuck to their stated goal of spotting migrants and calling authorities. Still, the potential for both mischief and tragedy is high. In the past six months, 135 Border Patrol agents have been assaulted with guns and vehicles along Arizona's border.
Far from welcoming the amateur assistance, the Border Patrol has devoted scarce resources to this small sector in an effort to prevent violence among Minutemen, counter-protesters and migrants. Minutemen are also disrupting operations by tripping underground sensors, authorities say.
All in all, it's a case of understandable frustration leading to unfortunate action.
There's no question the federal government doesn't adequately protect the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, where agents catch 1 million illegal crossers but hundreds of thousands elude them each year. The 9,700 agents on that border are simply outmatched. Last year, Congress authorized 2,000 new Border Patrol agents starting this fall, but Bush undercut that by funding just over 200 new agents in his budget.
The Minutemen do nothing to deal with the root cause of the problem — the lure of U.S. jobs better than those in Mexico. Bush proposed a "guest worker" program last year to match willing Mexicans with U.S. jobs, at the same time offering incentives for them to return home. Instead of following that sensible lead, the House Republican majority has focused on anti-immigration efforts that may do more harm than good.
Then again, immigration typically draws more emotion than thought.
That's what is happening in Arizona. Last week, a Minuteman volunteer snapped a photo of a migrant holding a T-shirt with this mocking slogan: "Bryan Barton caught me crossing the border and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." Project leaders sent the volunteer packing, but the incident shows how easily citizen law enforcement can turn ugly.
If the Minutemen have put a spotlight on immigration, fine. But the answers won't be found in the Arizona desert. They lie instead in Mexico City and Washington.
source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-04-13-edit_x.htm
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"The rest of the story", Because we know you are smart enough to research on your own and do not depend on the KXYL spoon feeders !
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