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Well-thought Reforms, Not Amateur Vigilantes, Will Boost Border Security

San Jose Mercury News, Calif. - April 8, 2005


The following editorial appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on Thursday, April 7:

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The self-appointed border guards who have descended on southern Arizona for a middle-age, button-down spring break have made their point. Now they should pack up, head home and leave the job of protecting the frontier to the pros.

Their point - actually a valid half-point - is that the underfunded U.S. Border Patrol is doing a poor job of keeping illegal immigrants out.

There's no disputing that. Last year, half of the 1.1 million immigrants caught trying to enter from Mexico were apprehended in Arizona - many along the 23-mile stretch near Douglas that the Minuteman Project's troops chose for their mobilization.

But what they won't acknowledge is that immigration reforms and a well-protected border go together. Those reforms would let people in legally to do farm work and other low-wage jobs they're now filling with winks and nods from their employers. They would include a way, short of a blanket amnesty, for those already in this country to earn permanent legal status.

Hundreds of Minutemen began their monthlong vigil this week. They're stationed every quarter-mile. Some are carrying arms; others bear armchairs.

They're under orders to notify the Border Patrol when they see border crossers and not to challenge them directly. So far, that's been the case. But border protection is dangerous and volatile work and no place for vigilantes.

One reason there hasn't been a violent confrontation already is that the word has spread in Mexico. The ``coyotes'' who traffic in human cargo are laying low; fewer immigrants are trying to get across, for now.

But they'll return next month, when the Minutemen depart. Impoverished Mexicans and Central Americans will continue to risk their lives in the desert for a better life on the other side.

With Republican leaders conflicted over immigration, legislation remains stalled in Congress. Even a bill to establish temporary visas for farmworkers, a straightforward element of reform that has President Bush's backing, has gone nowhere.

The nation needs secure borders, but it also need sane immigration laws. Congress should fix the gaps in both.

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(c) 2005, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.). Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.