Sacrifice for Nothing

Let us address what we are being asked to sacrifice on the altar of immigration enforcement vs. what is being gained. The federal government, having spent billions of dollars on a failed strategy to militarize the border region, now proposes to spend billions more building a fence along great lengths of the border. However, rational observers agree that it would be impossible to fence the entire border, as some areas are just too rugged to allow for such construction and the hugely expensive follow-up maintenance that will be required to keep the fence intact. In effect, such a strategy is basically the same as the one that has already proven to be such a failure, the only difference being a dramatic increase in the amount of damage that is done in the process. The fence will funnel migrant traffic to even more remote and sensitive areas, and while it may well make it more difficult to cross, virtually no one believes that it will stop illegal immigration. Conversely, it is a certainty that construction and maintenance of a fence will fundamentally, and in some cases permanently alter southwestern ecology. In addition to direct destruction of habitat and vegetation through the blading of thousands of acres during construction, the presence of the fence and thousands of miles of new roads that go with it will disrupt or eliminate migration routes for many species, break down the hydrology of water courses, destroy fragile desert soils, and so on. Among many other negative consequences, the fence will likely result in the extinction of the jaguar in the U.S. and threatens to cut off numerous other sensitive species from essential intermingling with gene pools south of the border. And for what gain? Already ladders have been found lying along the fence and migrants are using torches to cut through. The unavoidable fact is that people desperate to provide for themselves and their families will continue to find a way to cross. The federal government must devise and implement a policy that reflects this fact and provides for an orderly way to manage immigrant labor. In the absence of an effective policy, the southwest is truly being asked to sacrifice its natural heritage for nothing.