Tim Gaynor/Reuters, "experts", say fence is "impractical"

Tim Gaynor of Reuters offers "Experts see U.S. border fence plan as impractical". Three such "experts" are quoted, only two of them being named.

The first is "veteran agent Lee Morgan". First, let's take a look at what he told Tamar Jacoby in early 2005:

[BP Agent Lee Morgan] criticizes the apprehensions as a waste of time and resources. "They're just poor people trying to feed their families," he shrugs... "What if the bastards come across here in Arizona and I don't catch them because I'm so busy chasing a busboy or a gardener that I don't have time to do my job--my real job--catching terrorists?..."

Bush has said something similar, as have David Brooks, John Fund, and the WSJ editorialists. Who started the whole "busboys vs. terrorists" line it is not known.

Back to the current article, let's look at his complaint about the fence:

"You can't build a wall across the mountains of southern Arizona, as much of the terrain is inaccessible even on foot," veteran agent Lee Morgan told Reuters as he stood near the proposed route of the fence, east of the town of Douglas.

Well, pretty obviously to just about everyone else, if there are cliffs there that require 5.14 climbs, then you don't need to build a fence there. Duh.

Another agent has a better complaint:

Another former U.S. Customs special agent, who declined to be named, said the fencing would also struggle to bridge hundreds of creek beds spanning the Arizona-Sonora border, which are prone to flash floods from May through October.

That's definitely a real concern; what plans there are - if any - to avoid that issue isn't known.

Then, we get the thoughts of Doris Meissner, "senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington":

"It may work to curtail crossings in the immediate area it has been built, but it won't stop illegal immigration,"

I don't think anyone's ever said that the fence would stop illegal immigration. I also don't think any, say, prospective police chief has ever said he'd stop crime in his city.

"Experience has shown that traffic will shift to other parts of the border" where there is less vigilance, added Meissner, a former commissioner at the now defunct U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Fences can be built there then. And, the presence of fences in some areas will also lead prospective crossers to the correct assumption that the easy routes have been sealed off and it's even more dangerous than ever to try to cross. If that point were driven home in Mexico, it would help reduce illegal immigration even without the whole border being fenced. Of course, that would assume that Mexico won't simply encourage their citizens to cross in the unfenced areas.

"The draw for illegal immigrants is the availability of employment in the United States, and that is not being addressed by this fence," she said.

So, we can expect her to get solidly behind efforts to fine employers, right?

Immigration · Tue, 10/03/2006 - 03:28 · · Importance: 1