Thread: Disorder On The Border

http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDA ... e=20060310

Issues & Insights
Disorder On The Border
Posted 3/10/2006

Security: Now that the port deal's dead, maybe those who killed it will focus on our southern border, where violence reigns, local governments are overburdened and the environment is trashed by illegal immigration.

While much attention has been paid of late to potential security breaches at U.S. ports, a study done by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and released by the U.S./Mexico Border Coalition (bordercounties.org) details the real harm and increasing economic burden imposed on U.S. border counties by this unregulated influx of humanity.

The study found that, although the federal government does reimburse some costs, it's not nearly enough. San Diego County alone spends $50 million a year to arrest, jail, prosecute and defend illegal immigrants, with the feds contributing a meager $2 million.

The difference of $48 million makes a not insignificant dent in the county's $600 million annual budget for discretionary spending, notes one county supervisor. And then there's the added cost, sometimes in human lives as well as treasure, imposed on the victims of these crimes.

In the last month, three serious accidents involving vans overloaded with illegals barreling down wrong sides of San Diego roads injured dozens, including innocent U.S. bystanders. One van loaded with 34 illegals slammed into a Border Patrol vehicle, and stopped only after it got sandwiched between a truck and a guardrail.

The UTEP study notes that 1.14 million arrests were made in 2004 along the border that stretches from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas, up 26% from the year before.

The UTEP study also details the costs of illegal immigration in terms of health care and environmental degradation. At border-county hospitals, for example, treating illegals accounts for nearly one quarter of uncompensated costs.

Pima County, Ariz., had to swallow $76 million in treatment costs in a single year, a third of it due to illegals. About 25% of Cochise's budget for health care is for uninsured people — most of them illegals.

Then there's the problem of the trash left and the trampling done by illegal entrants, drug smugglers and human traffickers who often use our national parks as entry and transit points — routes that could also be used by potential terrorists and al-Qaida cells.

Roger Di Rosa, manager of the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, recently told the Los Angeles Times that 2.5 million pounds of garbage are left annually in the refuge by those who enter the refuge illegally.

There are so many illegal crossings in the refuge— an estimated 1,000 a day by foot alone , plus countless vehicle crossings transporting drugs and/or people — that de facto roads have been made in the habitats of endangered species.

While grandstanding politicians pat themselves on the back about blocking the foreign investment of an ally, they should take a glance at our southern border, where our economy, our environment, and our security are literally being trampled underfoot.

.... that is a real Right-On article!!

Surprises me that it came out of El Paso, one of the biggest dumping grounds in the country for illegal aliens.