September 06, 2002
View From Lodi, CA: One Year later, Border Still Unguarded
By
Joe Guzzardi
“Where were you when it happened?”
This month, people across the U.S. are reliving with
total recall the moments that lead up to the instant
they knew that the
World Trade Towers had been destroyed by
terrorist attack.
On September 10th and 11th
Roy Beck, Executive Director of
NumbersUSA.com and I were in
Arizona, traveling along the
border that separates the
United States and Mexico.
Our trip had been planned since June. On September 10th,
we attended a
sustainability conference in Tucson. Then we drove
to Sierra Vista to meet
David Stoddard, a former border patrol agent and
life long border resident who that night would guide us
along the San Pedro River to Naco.
We drove in pitch darkness for hours. For long
stretches at a time, not even a strand of barbed wire
divided Mexico from the U.S. Anyone could walk into the
country unobstructed. In the few places that we saw
fencing, Stoddard said that an Arizona rancher trying to
keep his livestock from straying had no doubt put it up.
At sporadic intervals, a lone border agent in a van
drove by. What became clear was that the border had no
meaningful defense. And what was equally obvious was
that despite any argument to the contrary, more
effective policing of the border—either with additional
agents or the military-- would be easy and effective.
Ironically, our hotel was full of safety and
intelligence experts who were in training at Ft.
Huachuca, a former
U.S. Cavalry post and now the
U.S. Army Intelligence Training Center. Yet, just a
few miles from the base aliens, including
drug dealers and terrorists, entered the U.S at will.
Since that fateful day, little if anything has
changed in terms of secure borders. This week, I
contacted Stoddard to get his evaluation of post-
9/11security.
“I fully expected our government to invoke border
security,”
began Stoddard.
“Instead,” he continued,
“Bush sent our National Guard troops to Ports of
Entry to inspect vegetables. There was a great
‘tightening’ of security right at ports, which means
that people who would normally present themselves for
inspection were more thoroughly inspected. These are not
people we are concerned about.”
Stoddard noted that the wide-open spaces between the
borders went unsecured.
“Previous to 9/11 there were places where terrorists,
smugglers or anyone who wants to can drive a huge
18-wheeler across the border. Those places still exist
today. The ‘security’ along our borders before and after
9/11 is best described as ‘window dressing’”
concluded Stoddard.
As easy as it is to enter the U.S. from Mexico,
coming in from Canada anywhere along the 4,000 mile
northern border may
even be easier. The generally accepted wisdom is
that neither the
Canadian or American governments are willing to
tolerate the social and economic consequences of strict
enforcement.
Bush talks of a more “transparent” border between
Canada and the U.S. to keep the daily $1 billion trade
flowing. At the same time, Bush envisions—or so he
says—that this same “transparent” border will be
“more secure.”
When the standard vehicle inspection by U.S. Customs
agents consists of asking for passenger names and
inquiring if there is any fruit in the car, no one can
be comfortable.
Finally, 95,000 miles of U.S. coastlines and
territorial seas, American inland waterways, 361 ports
and harbors and 3.4 million square miles of ocean that
define our
Exclusive Economic Zones must be safeguarded by the
35,000 U.S. Coast Guard personnel.
We remain too vulnerable by land and sea. And any
hope that our exposure to terrorism can be diminished
through
legislation seems farfetched.
In his September 4th story titled
“Remember 9/11:Immigration Reform,” Atlanta
Journal Constitution reporter Mark Bixler
interviewed University of Virginia Law Professor and
former INS general counsel
David Martin.
Said Martin,
“If you’re talking about
a sophisticated terrorist operation, I really think it
would be rare that tighter immigration controls would
identify him.”
Martin is equally skeptical about the usefulness of
the student tracking system.
To expect that an immigration system that has been
spinning out of control for three decades can be made
sensible within a year is unrealistic.
But real immigration reform will never happen unless
it is fully supported by the federal government. And, as
of this moment, George W. Bush doesn’t have the
political courage to bring about change.
Bush is beholden to
big business,
immigration lawyers, and.
special interest groups who represent potential
voting blocs.
So while Bush is talking tough about security, the
truth is that he is unwilling to take the heat that
would come with the necessary drastic changes.
Joe Guzzardi [email
him], an instructor in English
at the Lodi Adult School, has been writing a weekly
column since 1988. It currently appears in the
Lodi News-Sentinel.
