Fool me once ...
By Dimitri Vassilaros
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 2, 2007

San Diegans have been trying to hold off the barbarians at the gateway to America.

Hordes of illegal aliens -- about 150,000 annually from Tijuana, Mexico -- had been invading. There was no fence to stop them. Roger Hedgecock had thought amnesty part of the solution instead of a problem making a bad situation worse.

Mr. Hedgecock -- Republican mayor from 1983 to 1985 -- morphed into a popular local talk radio host who also subs for Rush Limbaugh. There are many immigration experts in Congress, in the White House and among the jabbering talking heads on news programs. But how many have lived so close to the problem as Hedgecock?

"I have locks and an alarm system," he says about his family's home. "Anybody with any degree of sanity has those things." Homes in many San Diego neighborhoods have bars on the windows; the more affluent areas have elaborate security systems, he says.

But does Hedgecock really feel threatened?

"There's no question about that."

In the 1970s, crime along the lawless DMZ between San Diego and Tijuana was so bad it inspired Joseph Wambaugh to write his true account "Lines and Shadows," Hedgecock reminds.

"Gangs operating out of Mexico preyed on American neighborhoods and immigrants," Hedgecock says about the town that calls itself "America's Finest City." There was no fence along the border back then. Illegals crossing over were robbed and raped along their trail of tears. "There were murders nearly every night."

He thought a "three-legged stool" was the answer -- amnesty, border control and an employer verification program to prevent the hiring of illegals. They were the three legs of the Immigration Reform and Control Act ("Simpson-Mazzoli"). It was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1986.

"All we got was amnesty, not the other two," Hedgecock says. "We were fooled once and we're not going to be fooled again."

Talk radio hosts like Hedgecock were vehemently opposed to the U.S. Senate's amnesty bill, not allowed to advance last week.

Lawlessness in the San Diego area was back up in 1989, thanks to the illegals, he says. "We were looking at each other asking, 'What's going on?' " The problems were worse than ever because the '86 amnesty had induced more people to believe they could come here and be regularized," Hedgecock says.

That frustration sparked the "Light Up the Border" campaign from 1989 to 1990. Protesters drove to the border once a month at night and shined their headlights south to expose illegals trying to sneak in.

Political pressure led to the installation of a border fence in the early '90s. It stopped about 70 percent of the aliens entering that sector, Hedgecock says.

Extra Border Patrol agents and stadium-style lights also have been effective. So much so that there've been a half dozen major tunnels from Mexico to the U.S. discovered under the barrier. Last year, law enforcement discovered a half-mile-long tunnel from Tijuana more than nine stories below ground with ventilation, drainage systems, concrete flooring, lighting and a pulley system.

All this and so much more, two decades after amnesty.

"If you're here legally, God bless you. Welcome to the United States," Hedgecock says. "If you're here illegally, get the hell out."


Dimitri Vassilaros can be reached at dvassilaros@tribweb.com or 412-380-5637.




Images and text copyright © 2007 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co.
Reproduction or reuse prohibited without written consent from PghTrib.com

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 15245.html