Baja Arizona

Splitting Arizona? [Link]

Reportedly, the leaders of the Baja Arizona liberation front (we’ll call them the BALF for short) are motivated by alarm at the “extreme” agenda of the state’s governor and others. Gov. Jan Brewer and her Republican allies, after all, favor such repressive measures as the provision of actual border security and deliberate enforcement of federal immigration laws. Small wonder that the more sophisticated elements in Pima County prefer the approach of San Francisco and other “sanctuary” jurisdictions where illegal immigrants - in many instances, even those who commit violent crimes - are protected from ill-conceived efforts to detain or deport them.

To be sure, Pima County and Arizona have plenty of illegal immigrants to protect. Just last week, border police found a sophisticated smugglers’ tunnel in Nogales in neighboring Santa Cruz County. It had been chiseled through solid rock and was equipped with lights, water pumps and ventilation along its 250-foot length. It was the eighth tunnel discovered in Nogales since October. A more progressive Baja Arizona could be welcoming to the capital investment and foreign trade opportunities presented by such ventures.

Yet Baja boosters - not to mention border police - must have been confused by President Obama’s speech in nearby El Paso, Texas, where he claimed that his administration has gone “above and beyond” the demands of the Jan Brewers of the world to assure that the border is secure. The president explained, “They wanted a fence. Well, that fence is now basically complete.” He also announced that the Border Patrol has 20,000 agents in the region, saying, “We now have more boots on the ground on the southwest border than at any time in our history.”

Open-borders advocates may have been relieved to learn that the president was just making that stuff up. Or maybe the 75,000 troops sent to the border region by President Woodrow Wilson about 95 years ago weren’t wearing boots. But count on this: They were sent there to secure our southern border and drive out what was, in effect, a marauding army of invaders led by Pancho Villa. Today’s “boots on the ground” have a “turn back south” program that gives drug smugglers a pass if their load is below a certain weight threshold and gives illegal border-crossers up to seven strikes before they are charged with misdemeanor immigration violations.

What about that fence, you ask? Well, if you’re in favor of an open admissions policy, not to worry. Our president’s Department of Homeland Security reported in February that 649 of the “nearly 2,000 southwest border miles” had fences. Homeland Security claimed in that same report to have achieved “varying levels of operational control” over 873 of those miles. Even if one assumes airtight control - as opposed to “varying levels” - the facts flatly contradict the president’s assertions. Today’s drug cartels, criminal gangs and infiltrating terrorists have plenty of crossing room still.