The Mexican invasion of Arizona

Washington Post:

Along a rugged stretch of the Mexican border here in southern Arizona, U.S. authorities captured 687 illegal immigrants in a 24-hour period last week, three times the number captured near San Diego. During the past eight months, agents have apprehended 168,000 migrants along this sector of the border.

The border crossers are so determined, and so impervious to a long-running buildup of federal agents and technology, that few here think President Obama's recent decision to dispatch 1,200 National Guard soldiers and $500 million will make much difference.

"I doubt it, frankly," said Don Severe, a vocal opponent of illegal immigration who favors stronger measures, including certain incarceration. "It sounds good, but what are they going to do? We have a very serious problem."

Arizona, home of a controversial new law that makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally, has become the leakiest portion of the nearly 2,000-mile border. The continuing flow of illegal immigrants, compounded by a rise in narcotics traffic and the slaying of an Arizona rancher, perhaps by a border crosser, has triggered a fresh fight over immigration policy, animating activities on both sides of the debate.

On Saturday, as thousands rallied in Phoenix for and against the new law, Gov. Jan Brewer (R) sought to remove Attorney General Terry Goddard (D) from defending Arizona against expected legal challenges. Although Brewer said she feared that Goddard would collude with the Obama administration, which is weighing such a challenge, Goddard said he would faithfully represent the state despite personal opposition to the law. Meanwhile, Republican politicians, led by Brewer and Sen. John McCain, are calling for stricter border security measures.

...

Nogales is the heart of a 262-mile stretch of border defined by sharp rises, steep ravines and brutal desert heat. As border controls are tightened elsewhere, including through the construction of a border fence in parts of Arizona, California, Texas and New Mexico, Mexican migrants and smugglers have gravitated to the 90,000-square-mile area known by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as the Tucson Sector.

"When you plug a hole in the wall, the water looks for another spot to flow through. Arizona is that spot," said Nogales police chief Jeff Kirkham, who reported that immigrants are "going over the wall, going through the wall or through tunnels."

Others try to make their way though the remote desert where the high fence stops. Once across the border, they face a daunting trek that can stretch 30 miles or more in heat approaching 100 degrees. Agents staff checkpoints and crisscross the area, supported by millions of dollars worth of sensors, cameras, surveillance aircraft and computer technology.

Since 2006, staffing of the Tucson Sector has increased 30 percent, to about 3,200 officers. But immigrants from across the globe keep coming over the border -- alone or in groups, sometimes guided by smugglers, sometimes arriving at official crossings neatly dressed and with fake papers.

...

We need to finish the fence and we need more employer, employee enforcement. When the Bush administration began the raids on busineses with high illegal employees, it start a self deportation that has waned since Obama stopped that form of enforcement. In fact, there is serious question whether Obama wants to enforce immigration laws as they currently exist.

What is needed to stop the flow is serious consequences for those who do it. A catch and release program just means they are inconvenienced and will try again. If there is no consequence for coming, they will keep coming. Democrats seek to reward them for coming with US citizenship. That will only encourage more to come.