halcitron

http://www.vdare.com/guzzardi/where_were_you.htm

September 06, 2002

View From Lodi, CA: One Year later, Border Still Unguarded
By Joe Guzzardi

"Where were you when it happened?"

This month, people across the U.S. are reliving with total recall the
moments that lead up to the instant they knew that the World Trade
Towers had been destroyed by terrorist attack.

On September 10th and 11th Roy Beck, Executive Director of
NumbersUSA.com and I were in Arizona, traveling along the border that
separates the United States and Mexico.

Our trip had been planned since June. On September 10th, we attended a
sustainability conference in Tucson. Then we drove to Sierra Vista to
meet David Stoddard, a former border patrol agent and life long border
resident who that night would guide us along the San Pedro River to
Naco.

We drove in pitch darkness for hours. For long stretches at a time, not
even a strand of barbed wire divided Mexico from the U.S. Anyone could
walk into the country unobstructed. In the few places that we saw
fencing, Stoddard said that an Arizona rancher trying to keep his
livestock from straying had no doubt put it up.

At sporadic intervals, a lone border agent in a van drove by. What
became clear was that the border had no meaningful defense. And what
was equally obvious was that despite any argument to the contrary, more
effective policing of the border-either with additional agents or the
military-- would be easy and effective.

Ironically, our hotel was full of safety and intelligence experts who
were in training at Ft. Huachuca, a former U.S. Cavalry post and now
the U.S. Army Intelligence Training Center. Yet, just a few miles from
the base aliens, including drug dealers and terrorists, entered the U.S
at will.

Since that fateful day, little if anything has changed in terms of
secure borders. This week, I contacted Stoddard to get his evaluation
of post- 9/11security.

"I fully expected our government to invoke border security,"

began Stoddard.

"Instead," he continued,

"Bush sent our National Guard troops to Ports of Entry to inspect
vegetables. There was a great 'tightening' of security right at
ports, which means that people who would normally present themselves
for inspection were more thoroughly inspected. These are not people we
are concerned about."

Stoddard noted that the wide-open spaces between the borders went
unsecured.

"Previous to 9/11 there were places where terrorists, smugglers or
anyone who wants to can drive a huge 18-wheeler across the border.
Those places still exist today. The 'security' along our borders
before and after 9/11 is best described as 'window dressing'"

concluded Stoddard.

As easy as it is to enter the U.S. from Mexico, coming in from Canada
anywhere along the 4,000 mile northern border may even be easier. The
generally accepted wisdom is that neither the Canadian or American
governments are willing to tolerate the social and economic
consequences of strict enforcement.

Bush talks of a more "transparent" border between Canada and the
U.S. to keep the daily $1 billion trade flowing. At the same time, Bush
envisions-or so he says-that this same "transparent" border
will be "more secure."

When the standard vehicle inspection by U.S. Customs agents consists of
asking for passenger names and inquiring if there is any fruit in the
car, no one can be comfortable.

Finally, 95,000 miles of U.S. coastlines and territorial seas, American
inland waterways, 361 ports and harbors and 3.4 million square miles of
ocean that define our Exclusive Economic Zones must be safeguarded by
the 35,000 U.S. Coast Guard personnel.

We remain too vulnerable by land and sea. And any hope that our
exposure to terrorism can be diminished through legislation seems
farfetched.

In his September 4th story titled "Remember 9/11:Immigration
Reform," Atlanta Journal Constitution reporter Mark Bixler
interviewed University of Virginia Law Professor and former INS general
counsel David Martin.

Said Martin,

"If you're talking about a sophisticated terrorist operation, I
really think it would be rare that tighter immigration controls would
identify him."

Martin is equally skeptical about the usefulness of the student
tracking system.

To expect that an immigration system that has been spinning out of
control for three decades can be made sensible within a year is
unrealistic.

But real immigration reform will never happen unless it is fully
supported by the federal government. And, as of this moment, George W.
Bush doesn't have the political courage to bring about change.

Bush is beholden to big business, immigration lawyers, and. special
interest groups who represent potential voting blocs.

So while Bush is talking tough about security, the truth is that he is
unwilling to take the heat that would come with the necessary drastic
changes.

Joe Guzzardi [email him], an instructor in English at the Lodi Adult
School, has been writing a weekly column since 1988. It currently
appears in the Lodi News-Sentinel.
end


Halcitron - Minuteman
misc.survivalism

"illegals are like the flies outside my window,
if I didn't have screens, I'd have a house full of flies."

alt.politics.immigration, misc.survivalism,
soc.culture.mexican.american, ca.politics