We currently reside at the town of Amado in Arizona some 40 miles from the border with the state of Sonora, Mexico.   We find Arizona more focused on the issue of border security than most.  This has lead to controversy, I suppose, but the people here have bigger concerns than criticism from those who think they know better. 

This afternoon I drove through a border patrol checkpoint and was scrutinized, or, dare I say, profiled.  I spoke only a few words in perfect American and was waved through.  My language was correct and my clothing was in the proper style.  Easy. 

Still, all this effort for what?  A couple of weeks ago someone released a list apparently taken from a state agency that listed thousands of illegal aliens .  Why does the INS not simply take that  list and begin deportations?  Perhaps because such action might discourage the border traffic and the agency's business.

We plan hiking in the border region is search of birds that are rarities in this country.  The fowl require no visas to cross the border.  Arizona residents offer various suggestions for confrontations with illegals.  Don't see them.  Carry no money.  Give up anything they demand.  We listen and hope we won't need the advice, but we have found the first suggestion to effective in the past. 

In fact we have suffered more danger from U.S. and Mexican border patrol agents than from the illegals.  Once a patrol boat nearly swamped our canoe in the Rio Grande.  In any case, we'll be running the gauntlet of border crossers and law enforcement officials over the next couple of weeks.  Wish us luck and safety.

I suspect that the border problem could be easily resolved through the legalization of narcotics and establishment of a simple guest worker program.  Rational approaches aside, we could at least require employers demonstrate the legality of their workers.  Instead we make massive increases in border patrol that are no match for the economic forces that drive men to struggle across an inhospitable and guarded frontier to transport people and product.. 

I once hoped that the border would be secured.  I would prefer our population was stable, but there is no support for this view. 

I don't dislike individual illegals.  I respect their desire and ambition to better their lives and improve the prosperity of their families.  That said, allowing people to gain residency without following the onerous immigration procedures that we demand of others to establish residency and citizenship is grossly and morbidly unfair.  Failure to enforce immigration laws puts our security and prosperity at risk.  Opening our borders completely may seem a wonderful idea, but  it creates enormous problems. 

Sadly, there are now so many conflicting interests that there probably can be no solution.  Not long ago, Republicans argued for an ordered immigration plan for Mexican workers.  The Democrats, hounded by blue collar unions, refused to support any such thing.  Now, with public frustration over the cost of illegal immigration so high, Republicans won't discuss immigration reform until better control of illegal immigration, presumably through mass deportation, is accomplished.  This is clearly impossible.

Democrats, salivating at the thought of legalizing illegals as Democratic voters, seem unconscious to the perception of existing voters that a mass benediction of criminality will be of no benefit their job search.

So, a political solution seems very unlikely.  The states most affected, and especially so Arizona, make feeble steps to manage the problem on their own.

Arizona was not so impacted by border crossings until California tightened its borders.  This moved the traffic east.  Tired of  futile federal controls, the state is trying a new approach.  The federal government bizarrely seems irritated that Arizona wants to assist it in identifying and deporting those violating federal law.  Even I find this a bit maddening.

Still, I scratch my head and figure that the control is hopeless.  While control of our borders would be grand, too many, for a variety of reasons, refuse to support changes that would make illegal aliens leave the country.  So, Instead of undertaking meaningful controls, we will spend more and more money on agents and "wall."  But, as long as the Mexican worker can find work in los Estados Unitos, he and she will come.  We won't stop them.  We will simply spend more money uselessly.  So sad and so dangerous.