Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Life on our Southern Borders

Cross-posted by Maggie's Notebook


For many property owners living along our southern borders, life is a mess, literally. Along with filthy debris, as well as illegal debris, left behind by crossing illegals (crossing private property) there are threats, abuse, lack of privacy, a loss of property value and the need for iron bars to keep the family safe. Take a look at these articles for some up-to-date information about the border situation.

WorldNetDaily ‘Arab terrorists’ crossing border - Middle Eastern illegals find easy entrance into U.S. from Mexico. Here's just a few quotes from WorldNetDaily:
Many border ranch-owners are validly apprehensive of speaking about their desperate situations because of likely retribution by narco-militarists (drug runners) and coyotes (smugglers of humans). Unsolved murders and arsons are alarmingly ordinary in Cochise County, so pure fear keeps locals from speaking on the record.
and this, referring to a ranch property:
The foot traffic is so heavy that the backcountry has the ambience of a garbage dump and smells like an outdoor privy. In places, the land is littered a foot deep with bottles, cans, soiled disposable diapers, sanitary napkins, panties, clothes, backpacks, human feces, used toilet paper, pharmacy bottles and syringes (the drug runners inject stimulants to keep their energy up).
Rural citizens here have met with savage recriminations for exerting their legal rights. Immigration advocacy groups howl in protest, as does the Mexican government. Their lawyers have demanded that the ranchers be prosecuted for false arrest, kidnapping, intimidation, criminal assault and violation of civil rights – anything lawyers can come up with to advance their clients' interests. Illegal immigrants have now sued some Cochise County citizens in American courts.
and the good news...or not!
Another agent, of supervisory rank, stated,
"The smuggling traffic of Mexicans has really slowed. We are experiencing a tremendous increase in OTMs" – border lingo for "other than Mexicans." When queried about the ethnic make up of the OTMs, he answered, "Central and South Americans, Orientals and Middle-Easterners." Middle-Easterners? "Yeah, it varies, but about one in every 10 that we catch, is from a country like Yemen or Egypt."
The above WorldNetDaily report, dated February 20th, includes a wealth of information, including statistics, that you'll want to know about, and a chilling personal note from the reporter, J. Zane Walley.

From The Sierra Vista Herald, by Jonathan Clark, the County warns ranchers on border fence, you'll read about the Minutemen standing firm against county bureaucracy concerned with zoning regulations, as the Minutemen prepare to build an "Israeli-style" fence for an Arizona property owner. The National Executive Director of the Minutemen, Al Garza, said
...the county’s efforts were little more than a scare tactic. He said the barrier-building program would move forward as planned.
If the county government -- and in particular, Paul Newman -- think they are going to intimidate us, they are totally wrong,” he said.
“The bottom line is that we’re going to continue with the fence no matter what Paul Newman says. He’s not thinking about his constituents and he’s not thinking about border security — he’s thinking about Mexico and he’s thinking about illegal immigrants.”
(The "Paul Newman referred to above is the Cochise County Supervisor).

But there does seems to be some good news. From The International Herald Tribune | Americas, in an article by James C. McKinley, Jr., this: Flow of illegal immigrants to U.S. starts to slow: Mexico border fence and Guardsmen complicate crossings.
Border Patrol commanders argue the slackening flow of migrants belies the conventional wisdom that it is impossible to stem illegal migration along a 2,000 mile, or 3,200 kilometer, border. Many veteran officers in the force are now beginning to believe that with sufficient resources, it can be controlled.
The U.S. government has also begun punishing migrants with prison time from the first time they enter illegally in some areas. For instance, along the 210 mile border covered by the Del Rio office of the Border Patrol, everyone caught crossing illegally is charged in federal court and sentenced to at least two weeks in prison.

That is an enormous break with past practice, when most Mexican migrants were simply taken back to the border and let go.

Near Yuma, in the Mexican town of San Luis Río Colorado, the effects of the stepped up patrols are apparent. A year ago, migrants thronged the town park and cheap motels, while guides, known as "coyotes" or "polleros" offered their services. Now the park is nearly empty. Motels have plenty of vacancies.
I'm for big strong "Israeli-style" fences, thousands of miles of them, cameras, stadium-style lighting, border patrol agents that can actually protect our borders, and lot of agents, and immediate, substantial, jail-time for the first-timers.

To our fellow American citizens and property owners, there are many of us calling on officials to protect your rights, your privacy, your safety. It is all about you, and the welfare of the United States of America, from border to border.

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