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Last edition we ran a Letter to the Editor which was so impassioned a plea to stop the influx of illegal immigration into our “Land” indicating that for this reader there was no time to hear about the many factors involved.

Governors Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Janet Napolitano of Arizona must have read his plea. They have been hearing from these desperate folk for a while. But their recent declarations of States of Emergency are only the latest in the strange but complex issue of balancing border security for those crossing and especially for those living near the border. And now after 911 our border security is even more important.

Where did it start? In 1993, Sylvestre Reyes, then Regional Director of the Border Patrol for the El Paso, Texas sector, now Congressman Reyes, Dem. Texas, made an unprecedented move that some say was politically motivated.

Reyes ordered “Operation Blockade” of the border with insufficient funding and manpower which caused problems as the urban enforcement forced migration to the more dangerous and deadly areas of the U.S./Mexico border. Even the name was a blunder as “Operation Blockade” was quickly re-named "Operation Hold-the-Line". But it secured Reyes support and perhaps votes by the anti-Mexico residents of El Paso and West Texas rural areas.

This has complicated the border issue. Now instead of immigration coming up the Upper Valley where those poor individuals could be fed and given some resources to make their way to businesses in the Midwest who hired them and keep their salaries and didn’t pay their taxes. All under the watchful eye of the of an under funded Immigration and Naturalization Agency that was supposed to stop the hiring of undocumented workers thus stopping the incentive to risk their lives crossing the border. They are still entering the border but now there are more of them dying while trying.

Since then the “coyotes” or smugglers of Mexican Nationals have had a huge boost to their business as they were able to demand that those wanting to enter the country illegally would use their services. Many poor Mexicans have died or have been raped and robbed by these same coyotes. Some accounts indicate that at least 2000 Mexican and Central American migrants have died in the desert between El Paso, Texas and San Diego, California.

More recently the "Operation Triple Strike" is a variation of a nearly decade-old strategy that continues to heavily concentrate enforcement resources in urban border areas. There are, however, more safeguards, albeit insufficient, included in this latest effort to militarization of the border.

“Operation Blockade” and now “Operation Triple Strike" which went into effect in 2003 have been “Operational Failures” as the latest move by Richardson and Napolitano indicate.

According to the study by the Public Policy Institute of California, Holding the Line (2002). The Effect of the recent Border build-up on unauthorized immigration, eight years and $20 billion later, increased U.S. border enforcement has done virtually nothing to decrease undocumented migration. So don’t expect this latest move by New Mexico and Arizona to be the panacea.

With the recent news reports covering the study of Mexicans who are considering entering the U.S. “any way they can” it has lead one Radio Talk Show Host to scream.... literally scream... “Mexicans are taking over our country”.

The governors drastic measure may be politically motivated just as it can be said of Reyes. The Radio Talk Show Hosts claim as much but through gritted teeth they also say “what has/is the Bush Administration” and that of Mexican President Vicente Fox doing?

The Governor's drastic move will not be the last. As we have been saying during our now, 6 Part Series on Border Immigration Policy; it is a very complex issue. We may not like the real solution.

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Editor, Upper Valley Beacon

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