Border enforcement coming and going

LA Times/Houston Chronicle:

U.S. border authorities no longer apprehend illegal immigrants only as they enter the country. Now they're catching them on the way out.

At random times on the Tijuana-San Diego border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have been setting up checkpoints, boarding buses destined for Mexico and pulling off people who don't have proper documentation.

The operation appears to be an expansion of a broader federal crackdown targeting illegal immigrants in jails, airports and workplaces across the country.

The checkpoints, which are not announced in advance, are set up on the southbound lanes of Interstate 5, about 100 yards north of the border.

Vincent Bond, an agency spokesman, said departing immigrants are fair targets.

"If our officers come upon people who are here illegally ... regardless of whether they're leaving the country, we detain them, make a record of the fact they were here illegally, and return them to Mexico," Bond said.

...

Federal agents say the checkpoints are a good way to stop dangerous criminals, drug shipments and money launderers.

The illegal immigrants they apprehend are typically turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol for processing. Unless they have serious criminal convictions or long records of immigration violations, most are returned to Mexico within a few hours.

...

Some liberals are upset. Not mentioned is a more important rationale. The US is trying to stop the flow of weapons to the drug insurgents in Mexico. These inspections could certainly inhibit that activity.

It is good to see that self deportation is working. We want immigrants to come here legally and this adds to that effort.