Border Fence

Another good piece on the worthlessness of the border fence. The fence itself just forces people desperate to cross into more dangerous and life-threatening situations. Undocumented immigration has declined the past few years since jobs in the U.S. have dried up and since Obama increased the number of work visas for Mexicans; the border fence had little or nothing to do with it. The fence is incredibly expensive to maintain and is at best an impediment to easy crossing. It’s also an environmental disaster. Meanwhile, the fence does nothing to stop the real danger of the border–drug smuggling:

At night, smugglers toss Hail Marys of pot-stuffed footballs and fling golf-ball-sized heroin nuggets over to waiting receivers. Stealthy ultra-light aircraft bomb the lettuce fields outside town with bundles of dope, then swoop back into Mexico, well below radar but high above the fence.

So long as there are cities on the border, smuggling will occur with impunity.

Of course, the border goes two ways and the U.S. has zero interest in stopping the real driver of mass murder in northern Mexico–the unregulated purchase of guns that are sent to Mexico.