Border Deterioration

I have been very much opposed to all the talk about closing our southern border. As someone who lives within forty miles of Mexico, and a frequent visitor to Mexico, I am more familiar with the border than most. Our southern border was drawn through farms and communities (and Indian reservations), separating people from friends and relatives. For the most part, people lived with this separation, shopping, visiting, even marrying across the border.

There really are jobs on the U.S. side of the border that no Americans want to take. But there are plenty of Mexicans who will do these jobs. It works for everyone.

However, things have changed. The news media has publicized widely the fact that it is easy to cross the border. Consequently, hordes of criminals saw border crossing (into the U.S.) as a way to commit crimes - mostly burglaries - and slip back across the border, out of reach of local U.S. law enforcement agencies. How sad.

It is true that some essentially honest Mexicans seeking work in the U.S., have stolen food and clothing to keep them alive until they reached the work they were seeking. But now thieves are breaking into U.S. homes, stealing electronics and other valuables. Some are armed - in spite of the fact that private ownership of guns is strictly prohibited in Mexico. Many are not Mexican citizens. They come from all over the hemisphere.

Now the porous border has changed. Not only does it impact those farmers and ranchers whose homes are being ransacked, if impacts honest people who cross the border for honest purposes. A Mexican who works or attends a university in the U.S. can obtain legal status to cross the border. For them, going to work or to school is always a case of sitting in their car for forty minutes waiting for their turn to pass the inspection station. Would you tolerate that kind of delay every morning on your way to work?

And so, thanks to the news media letting the world know about the thin border security, it really is a threat - as the alarmists have been shouting. It is not, however, a problem of terrorists as the news pundits have screamed. It is a problem of petty criminals who have, perhaps, less disincentive for shooting someone than would a home-grown crook.

Now we do need to close the border. And, we need protection from 24-7 news reporting.