Over the weekend, the Washington Post ran a story featuring the views of several folks down on the U.S. - Mexico border who are taking exception to seeing their properties being taken for the border fence being built well inland from the border.
Within the story, there were two reality-checks I think are worth highlighting.
The first:
Their anger at being asked to sacrifice all that, Fred said, is that much greater because they believe the fence would deter neither terrorists nor illegal immigrants—who many here are convinced would simply tunnel under the fence, climb over it with ladders, or avoid it by heading for the sections of the border, including large stretches of South Texas, that will remain un-fenced.
“People in the rest of the U.S. just don’t understand the reality of what’s going on here,” he said. [...]
And the second:
Fred Garcia thinks it would be enough to maintain the beefed-up Border Patrol presence that he has noticed in the region since Sept. 11, 2001.
“Every time I come out here, they’re on me in minutes,” he said.
As if on a cue, a white sport-utility vehicle with the Border Patrol’s distinctive green stripe loomed in the rearview mirror, lights flashing. In the distance, three more SUVs converged, and several men stepped out, wearing uniforms of the National Guard, which has supplemented the Border Patrol over the past year.
