The Magazine of Future Warfare

barbed wire fence and track along the U.S./Mexico border (8/08 9:51am)

Editorial

Despite the billions of dollars spent on "Homeland Security", US borders remain mostly unprotected. Last year, the government estimated that over 700,000 unknown persons simply walked across unguarded areas of the border into the USA. A couple thousand Border Patrol agents have been added, but 9700 agents are far too few to cope with the flood of refugees pouring across US borders. G2mil's January 2002 editorial recommended several steps to solve this problem, but the Bush administration has shown little interest in securing US borders. The value of mass immigration is not the issue here. All sane Americans agree that anyone entering our nation should be screened and their luggage inspected. If the American people feel that more immigrants are need to fill job shortages then Congress can pass laws to increase quotas. In addition, as the US tracks international terrorists, restricts visas from certain countries, and tightens airport security, future terrorists are likely to just walk across the unguarded border. The Border Patrol routinely arrests Arabs from countries on the terrorism list, but no one seems concerned about those which slip by.

While several Democrats attempt to gain support for a Presidential run, not one has promised to seal American borders, even though this would boost him far ahead in the polls. Instead, many candidates support "amnesty" for aliens who broke American law to enter illegally, and continue to break laws in order to work by stealing identities of American citizens. Amnesty will dramatically increase illegal immigration as millions more refugees and criminals surge across to seek visas. Politicians endorse foolish proposals because corporate America likes the idea of millions of desperate peasants crossing the border who drive down wages of American workers. While Americans see the negative effects of insecure borders everyday in the form of increased crime, vagrancy, and soaring local taxes to cover county hospital bills, they rarely see anything negative in the corporate press or on corporate television. Here are a few stories of interest not permitted in the "mainstream" media. A recent book: Mexifornia explains how mass immigration transformed California from one of the nations' wealthiest states, to one of its poorest.

Perhaps a Democrat would like to become President and improve life in America. If so, he needs to announce concrete plans to secure the US border. Sealing the border against all intruders would prove too costly, although Israel and South Korea prove it can be done. However, cutting illegal border crossers from 700,000 a year to 7000 is a reasonable goal. These aliens are not black-suited ninjas dashing across the desert, they are just regular people stepping through a hole in a fence and walking a mile to a border city or waiting automobile. The 9700 Border Patrol agents cannot handle the problem because half of these agents are involved in training, administration, processing, transporting, or deporting criminal aliens. Agents assigned to patrol the border work 40 hour weeks, with vacation and holidays. As a result, there are fewer than 1000 agents at work right now guarding the entire Canadian and Mexican border.

Aliens don't sneak across the border, they just flood across the border. Finding aliens is not the problem, rounding them up is the challenge. In a typical urban sector, hundreds of aliens in small groups step through the fence each night while a dozen border patrol agents scramble to stop who they can. They built an expensive metal wall along the San Diego sector, but some aliens just climb over. Proposals to use nasty razor wire are rejected since they will injure aliens who then require care at American hospitals. Another problem is that even when agents detect and confront aliens near the fence, the aliens just wait until the agents must leave to continue their patrol or respond elsewhere. Crossing the border is so easy that many illegal aliens go home to Mexico for Christmas knowing they can just dash back across.

Every homeowner knows that the best way to keep people out of their yard is to buy a dog. Amazingly, the Border Patrol uses no dogs to guard its fences. Trained attack dogs are not needed nor desired, just small mutts which bark and snarl to defend their territory, yet are too small to seriously injure any fool who attempts to cross. The Border Patrol should build pens along the fence line in busy areas 200 meters long by 10 meters wide (dual fencing already exists along some of the border) and keep dogs in each pen. Dogs can be on duty 24/7 and require no pay or retirement. They will bark at anyone who comes within 50 meters of the fence and become furious at anyone attempting to cut or climb the fence. This commotion will be heard by Border Patrol agents who can drive over to investigate. If the aliens choose to linger on the Mexican side, the dogs will be happy to stay and watch them for days.

Dogs will instantly eliminate illegal crossings at vulnerable areas. Border Patrol agents will no longer waste time chasing and arresting aliens, and fence repair will be rare. Instead of chasing aliens, they will just watch groups of befuddled aliens standing 10 meters from the fence watching snarling dogs. The only solution for desperate smugglers is hike several miles through the desert to cross in remote areas, or to shoot the dogs, which is messy and extreme. This also requires a gun whose shots will instantly attract Border Patrol agents. Placing dogs along the entire border is impractical and unnecessary because around 90% of illegal crossing occur along the small segments of the border near roads and towns. Illegal crossings along fences guarded by dogs will become rare, and Border Patrol agents will enjoy a leisurely life of feeding their dogs and intercepting the few young men who attempt to hike several miles around the sectors guarded by dogs.

Once the Border Patrol secures the easy crossing areas with dogs, crossing will become so difficult that most aliens will not try as word spreads that the border is no longer open. However, tens of thousands will make long treks to cross remote areas of the border which remain unguarded today. If Americans read the compilation of news stories at: Desert Invasion, they would be alarmed at the chaos along the border. The Border Patrol does not have the manpower or resources to watch these areas, but the US Army has ample manpower to assist. US Army troops should resume their pre-1940 mission of guarding the border. The legality and practicality of deploying US troops to defend the United States has been deemed impractical by the corporate media. While most Americans want troops on the border, many intelligent Americans who watch too much television think it's a bad idea. G2mil has a full article on the subject to clear minds of such garbage: Defending America at the Border. This will free more Border Patrol agents for police duties, like deporting criminal aliens. Last May, the Department of Justice admitted it was trying to locate 80,000 felon aliens who had been released by prisons and jails since the Border Patrol was too busy to pick them up for deportation. While federal agents work hard to find and deport dangerous aliens, half will simply walk back into the USA until the border is secured.

Another urgent problem is the Department of Justice's practice of dumping injured aliens off at hospital emergency rooms for free treatment. It's not uncommon for sick or injured Mexicans to cross the border for free treatment, hoping the Border Patrol will arrest them to provide direct transport to a hospital. Since they haven't the manpower to guard them, aliens walk out of the hospital after their free treatment. This is an outrage and has forced dozens of hospitals to close and lowered the quality of care everywhere. The federal government must build or lease wings at several major hospitals along the border and secure them for detainees, then reimburse hospitals for medical services rendered. These secure wings will also prove helpful to many federal law enforcement agencies along the border.

The millions of uninsured illegal aliens have become a major burden at all hospitals in the US, with some patients requiring over a million dollars of care. The federal government should reimburse hospitals for such care, but only after a federal agent takes custody. Otherwise, hospitals will decide almost all their uninsured are illegal aliens and bill the government, yet never notify federal authorities to arrest them. Some medical professionals will cringe at the idea of calling the Border Patrol to deport their patient or transfer him to a federal hospital detention wing. They are welcome to provide free treatment if they like, but if they want to be paid they'll have to make that call. They should consider this alien had knowingly violated US law by crossing the border, and was lucky that a generous nation treated him at no charge, so doctors should not feel badly about helping him with a free trip back home.

Building dog pens and reimbursing hospitals will be expensive. The solution is a ten dollar fee for vehicles crossing the border into the USA. It costs five dollars just to cross many bridges in the USA, so why is it free to cross the border? Given the high cost of securing the borders, those who use these crossings should pay some of the cost. This has been proposed in the past, but was strongly opposed by border communities. However, if they know these funds will be used to make their communities safer with dog protected fences, and lower their tax burden for county hospitals while improving emergency room care everywhere, most citizens will be supportive. Another benefit of a crossing charge is that it will reduce border traffic by at least 20% as frequent border commuters and shoppers choose to walk across. This will speed vehicle crossings for everyone and allow a higher percentage of vehicles to be thoroughly inspected. Many border residents already walk across the border today since it's faster than waiting in line to come back.

Any Presidential candidate who talks about securing America's borders will climb rapidly in the polls. President Bush can secure his reelection by ignoring his corporate advisors and taking these steps to secure US borders. State governments would quickly see their finances improve as welfare cases and medical costs for the poor fall, while more Americans take jobs as wages rise when employers must offer more than the minimum wage. Finally, soldiers of the US Army will be happy to defend America and receive daily thanks from Americans, in contrast to the hostility they encounter defending borders overseas.

Carlton Meyer editorG2mil@Gmail.com

G2mil editorials may be freely distributed without permission

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September 2003 Articles

have been returned to the Members Library

Letters - comments from G2mil readers

Defending America at the Border - put US Army troops back on the border

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Where are the Legions - locations of US Army units deployed worldwide

No boost for missile defense - NMD fraud continues despite failure

Some of Army's Civilian Contractors Are No-Shows in Iraq - no combat for contract personnel