The American Spectator

It’s no use. Give it up. No matter how much the federal government tries to install security on America’s (southwestern) border, it’s a waste of time, money, and resources.

At least that’s what The Washington Post would have us believe after its report from Yuma, Arizona yesterday. Reporter John Pomfret based his story largely upon the experiences of harried Border Patrol agent Chris Van Wagenen, who chases elusive would-be illegals that defiantly taunt from the Mexico side, “I’ll be back.”

Van Wagenen’s response? “Of that, I’m sure. If it’s a fence, a sensor, a camera, they’ll find a way to defeat it.”

The Post paints a hopeless picture, saying “the signs of the unintended consequences of a decade’s worth of efforts to crack down on illegal crossings of the 2,000-mile border are clear.” The evidence of the failures:

- “Apprehensions of illegal immigrants are about the same as a decade ago.”

- “Mexicans and others continue to pour into the United States though it is now far more expensive and far more dangerous for them than ever.”

- “Once here, they are staying, turning border communities such as Yuma into boomtowns fueled by their cheap labor.”

It is a humbling acknowledgment that despite more than a decade of initiatives with macho-sounding names, like Operation Hold the Line in El Paso or Operation Gate Keeper in San Diego, the federal government has repeatedly failed on its own to gain control of the land borders.