Editorial: Border region is a lot safer than many think

Published: Friday, Feb. 4, 2011 - 12:00 am

Ciudad Juárez, on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border, is one of the world's most violent places.

Yet El Paso, directly across on the U.S. side of the border, is one of the safest communities in the United States – second behind Honolulu.

On the California border, San Diego last year posted its lowest crime rates since 1963.

Since 1990, crime in the nation's 24 border counties has dropped a dramatic 30 percent.

Yet the false perception that border crime is rampant persists. The fact is, U.S. border security efforts are showing results.

As Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said in a speech this week: "Illegal immigration is decreasing. Deportations are increasing. Crime rates are dropping."

During a Wednesday interview, the editorial board asked Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River, who serves on the House Homeland Security Committee and chairs a key subcommittee, what's working at the border.

He notes that increased patrols have helped. For example, the Border Patrol has gone from 10,000 agents in 2004 to more than 20,700 today. This has increased the numbers of people caught at the border. It also has allowed more seizures of drugs and weapons.

While Napolitano concludes that "this work will only get stronger with comprehensive immigration reform," Lungren believes "if you attach the word 'comprehensive', it dies." Congress, he said, "wants to see more improvement in security at the border."

Border communities, frankly, are getting more than a little weary of this dance. The implication that border communities are not safe affects their economies.

Inordinate fears of crime seem to be driven by a few high-profile incidents – such as the murder of a rancher in Cochise County, Arizona, last March. Yet, as the Arizona Republic reported in May, even Cochise County's sheriff, "concedes that notions of cartel mayhem are exaggerated." Violent crime peaked in Cochise in 2004 and has been declining.

"Border cities are some of the safest in the nation," wrote eight mayors (including San Diego and Calexico) in a letter released on Tuesday. They are among 13 mayors who have formed a U.S.-Mexico Border Mayors Association to persuade people to tone down the rhetoric on border violence, to acknowledge what's working on border security, to admit that while we cannot make the southern border 100 percent secure, we can make it safe.

They'd like to see Congress and the president do more to address efficient movement of goods and people across the border. They're right. While this is no time for a "victory lap," in Napolitano's words, it is time to acknowledge real progress and move on.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/04/337647 ... z1D6LeQ1Om