Battle of the border
By: PHIL STRICKLAND - For the The Californian | ∞
You're probably aware by now that heading to the Baja isn't a great idea these days.
For many folks in Southwest County and beyond, living so close to one of the neatest places on Earth is a diversion that has attained blessing status.
If, city life, "civilization," is more your thing, just stop at the western gateway to this place of primitive beauty, San Diego/Tijuana -- the 21st largest agglomeration in the Western Hemisphere with about 5 million residents -- where there is a little something for everyone.
But that's all changing.
It's not the State Department travel alerts or three-hour gun battles with gangs that are as upsetting as it is the reports from longtime and frequent Baja visitors of victimization at a level they have not seen over the decades they have been crossing the border for business and pleasure.
This is not about some cop putting the bite on you for $20 and this is not even about getting caught in the crossfire between the good guys -- those being the cops and the military -- and the bad guys -- the drug gangs, smugglers, and corrupt cops and military officials.
This is about the apparently increasing incidences of armed robbery and rape reported against tourists and violence directed at our border personnel.
With Mexican law enforcement in official denial about crimes against tourists, travelers might be well-advised to forgo trips south.
And, as troubling as that is for people who like to explore the hinterlands, just getting back across the border from a day trip may carry increased risks if violence such as that which erupted recently between lawless elements in Colonia Libertad, just east of the San Ysidro crossing, and the U.S. Border Patrol spreads elsewhere and becomes less discriminating as such things have a habit of doing.
If there weren't a crisis with illegal immigrants draining our public services and if there weren't a fear that the next terrorist strike will be imported from Mexico, the state of affairs along our border still should be desperate enough to make clear that it is imperative we secure our border as best we can against the violence that is spinning out of control and the demonstrated willingness to confront us.
International gangs already have a strong presence in our harder neighborhoods and prisons. A porous border coupled with a confused state of affairs enhances the prospect of "internationalizing" parts of our backyard in a wholly unacceptable manner.
Given Mexico's failure to act, violence against tourists and our border personnel likely will continue to grow, making border security a personal-safety issue for anyone visiting Mexico or living within an easy commute.
With growing border violence ignited by rabble or worse on the other side -- which the Mexican government is unable or unwilling to halt -- U.S. citizens of border communities must be ever watchful for signs the infection is spreading.
And, our Border Patrol agents, National Guard members and municipal law enforcement officials must have the authority to respond to any provocation in whatever manner they deem necessary.
You'd think it would not be necessary to say that.
-- Phil Strickland is a Temecula resident and a regular columnist for The Californian. E-mail: philipestrickland@yahoo.com.
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Bob wrote on Jan 21, 2008 9:06 PM:Why is a resident of Temecula writing an article about the border?
Reardon wrote on Jan 21, 2008 9:37 PM:Because, Bob, the lawlessness at the Border impacts us all. Coyotes harbor their raped and terrorized cargo in Escondido and Vista, at so-called "safe houses" -- and Vista is the nations capitol of the illegal immigrant, underage sex trade. The columnist simply tells us that it impacts us all...because it does. It will get a lot worse before it gets better.
Uh, Bob? wrote on Jan 21, 2008 9:43 PM:Maybe because the writer thinks this is HIS country, a place that means something to him and that he has a stake in it? Ya mean folks in Temecula don't visit Mexico? I didn't know that you had to live right on the border to want the U.S. borders controlled.
Roberto1 wrote on Jan 21, 2008 11:05 PM:Because its politically correct to point out the problems without positive solutions...its really easy, just do it...putting the genie back in the bottle ain't gonna happen.
jean wrote on Jan 21, 2008 11:33 PM:Temecula isn't that far from the border and if you're not aware of the escalating violence down south you've been living in a closet.
It's our border patrol agents that need more support. They put their lives on the line everyday they go to work. There's no way I'd go south of the border on vacation these days.
Ray wrote on Jan 22, 2008 12:29 AM:Take a good long look at Tijuana than look at your neighborhoods, see any difference?
Would I Vacation in Mexico wrote on Jan 22, 2008 12:35 AM:Actually my idea of a vacation is a posh suite, five star treatment, not a cardboard shack and a porta pottie. My vacations, I trade up.
Creg: wrote on Jan 22, 2008 2:58 AM: As a columnist Mr. Strickland is doing his job and doing it well. He is pointing out one of our major problems. Now we can take heed or not. The problems includes a "mudslide" effect of the violence in Mexico into the USA. And for sure - Mexico is not a place to visit during this era. I hope things improve, but not it is not likely in the near future.
Shell Answer Man wrote on Jan 22, 2008 4:01 AM:Let me try to break this down. A problem that exists but isn't addressed only gets bigger. We have a problem at the border. The problem doesn't stay at the border. Those who protect the border are in jeopardy and ? If we can't even secure the border, we have no security. And as Reardon says, there are far-reaching repercussions.
Shell Answer Man wrote on Jan 22, 2008 4:12 AM:Open borders advocates don't ask the hard questions. They say we need a collective lobotomy so we can have cheap lettuce and strawberries. These poor ag workers are usually younger men in their prime of life. I find it hard to believe that they are saints. I assume that they don't find dates and take them out for dinner and a movie. What is their outlet??? Could this be an obvious clue to the should be obvious sex trade issue?
We have already been wrote on Jan 22, 2008 7:06 AM:invaded not only by illegals but a foreign terrorist group made up of former soliders, M-13. I always thought the government was to protect its people from foreign invasion, I see I was wrong.
Maybe with wrote on Jan 22, 2008 8:58 AM:April 15th coming up fast and both Dems and Reps can't tell us what they are going to do with the Illegal alien problem, maybe we should all do a peaceful Civil Disobedience and file our tax returns less the money due. I think if enough people do it, the government will be forced to do their job.
Ken wrote on Jan 22, 2008 9:13 AM:OK folks, ANYONE north of our southern border has and should be concerned about the INVASION of ILLEGAL ALIENS AND ILLEGAL DRUGS coming across our borders (by the way, that also goes for those ILLEGALS coming across our northern border as well.) We must build the fence on our southern border NOW and put a STOP of anything ILLEGAL from crossing our borders. WAKE UP AMERICA AND SHOUT "I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!
And they complain about tear gas wrote on Jan 22, 2008 9:28 AM:Our agent is savagely run over and the Mexican govt meddles in our affairs over tear gas. If our agents are being assaulted, the Mexican govt should appreciate the fact that our agents are ONLY firing tear gas!
OLAF wrote on Jan 22, 2008 11:51 AM:The need to turn off the water in an overflowing pool is clear. Build the fence and then work on the people here. Secure our border and thenwork on the crime and who should stay or go. you can't keep complaining about the pool overflowing and not shut off the water.
Reardon wrote on Jan 22, 2008 12:25 PM:Actually, there is more than just narcotic and sex-trade trafficking here already -- there is kidnapping for ransom. So far it is limited (?) to just Chula Vista, and to Mexican businessmen who live there and go across the border to run their Mexican businesses, but that can change instantly.
California and the other wrote on Jan 22, 2008 2:02 PM:States are tired too! "People of Virginia are tired and do not understand how this country is allowing people to pick and choose which laws they want to obey," Reid said. Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, a proponent of many of the anti-illegal immigrant bills, said he's introducing one more: a resolution asking Congress for a constitutional convention to change the 14th Amendment. That's the one pertaining to citizenship; Cuccinelli wants to remove the part that provides citizenship for anyone born in the United States, and require instead that at least one parent be a citizen before a baby is a citizen.
bobd42 wrote on Jan 22, 2008 4:46 PM:we have a trade deficit , a dollar deficit , a huge leadership defficit , and a border deficit. The most important thing we have though, is a deficit of manhood to start taking matters into our own hands !~ i have been to the border on patrol and the only thing illegals understand is force !Our border patrol is under manned and over worked and Bush will not do anything to support this nation . I wonder why ?????????
paul in ramona wrote on Jan 22, 2008 6:06 PM: Wake up people! WTF. The war isn't just 12Kmiles away, its right in America's basement. We need about a 50 foot deep 300 foot wide trench with straight vertical walls running from Brownsville to Imperial Beach and filled with razor wire. Enough is Enough. Plus fortify the CBP and Border Potrol with USMC stryker brigades. Oorah!!
To Roberto1 wrote on Jan 22, 2008 8:02 PM:I want to congratulate you on making an intelligent post without once using the word “xenophobic”, or a derivative of such word. Ie phobic, phobie, xenophobe, etc.
Roberto1 wrote on Jan 23, 2008 12:28 AM:No problem...phobe, just look above this post and the silly soltions to the problem."the sky is falling!" that said, the alarmist should at least have a rwalistic plan like creating an economy that transends the border....after all it's really in our own interest.
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