More troops to the Arizona border, bringing sanity to an unstable situation

Hunting for illegal immigrants along the Arizona border is not the mission of the Arizona police. They aren't trained for it and they don't have a national mandate for it.

Traditionally, it falls to the Border Patrol to seek out and detain illegal immigrants from Mexico. The new Arizona law that requires local law enforcement to essentially do the job of the Border Patrol is probably not legal by federal standards.

President Barack Obama recently announced that he would be sending 1,200 troops to the Mexican/US border along with $500 million in support.

Bringing in National Guard troops to support the Border Patrol makes sense. These soldiers are not responsible for making arrests, but rather to support the Border Patrol in its mission.

According to a May 25 MSNBC article, "National Guard troops will work on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support, analysis and training, and support efforts to block drug trafficking." The troops will be there until Customs and Border Patrol can recruit more Border Patrol officers to take part in sweeping border control efforts.

Each year, hundreds of desperate Mexicans (no one knows for sure how many) try to cross the desert between Mexico and the US border. About 200 per year die in the attempt. Once they're here, many of them face "justice" from heavily-armed and battle-dress-bedecked US citizens.

It's understandable why Arizona passed the law that gives law enforcement powers to detain anyone who looks like they might be here illegally. There is a huge drug and human trafficking problem in Arizona. In March, a suspected illegal immigrant, who later disappeared back into Mexico, shot down prominent rancher, Robert Krentz, on his own land. No arrests have been made, but frustration over the crime may have led to the new Arizona law.

What remains to be seen is whether or not 1,200 troops is enough to help this delicate situation. Cochese County sheriff, Larry Dever, told MSNBC, "If you put 1,200 in perspective ... that's about one every 2 miles ... so we're woefully short of doing anything significant, unless they are all deployed in a very specific area."

Arizona senator John McCain has been vocal on the subject. He says he appreciates the troops and the $500 million being allocated, but that it isn't enough.

If we wish to bring stability to this region, perhaps we should look to stabilizing the interior of Mexico. Juarez and other border towns have become pressure cookers of discontent and desperation. Displaced Mexican Indians are forced to live in shantytowns while their women work in factories under appalling conditions. The men have no work and nowhere to go but out.

Stiffening border control has only made them more desperate. The solution may lie in making the economy in Mexico more tenable. Sending National Guard troops to the border is a good start, but it is just that—a start. More troops are needed. More Border Patrol officers are needed. More technology is needed. And legislation is needed.

But perhaps most of all, relief of the horrible economic situation in Mexico should to be addressed. Mexico should let the Mexican Indians go back to their land without fear of taxation, and we should let more immigrants into our country legally. After all, we are very much dependent upon this cheap pool of labor to support our economy.

Sure, make immigrants learn English if that's what you want. Go ahead and give them extensive background checks. But let them in. Our economy and collective sanity depends upon it.