San Diego Border Fence

Jorge Bustamante’s column (“U.S. Recession: It’s Time to Pick on Mexico,” Opinion, Feb. 16) missed the mark on the reinforcements to the border fence in San Diego County.

The point of the fence isn’t to stop illegal immigration: It can’t. The point is to stop threats to public safety along the border, allow the Border Patrol to control the area, and curtail cross-border drive-through trafficking of illegal drugs.

As the fence has been improved, we have seen a dramatic decline in the incidence of violence along the border. 1990 saw nine murders and four rapes in the immediate border area. All of the murder victims were Mexican nationals. Through October, 1991, there were no murders and two rapes; clearly a dramatic improvement.

Border Patrol agents are no longer threatened for merely doing their jobs. Incidents of assault against agents declined 39% between fiscal years 1990 and 1991. Any Border Patrol agent will tell you that the fence makes his job easier. The flow of immigrants is channeled and the lawlessness that prevailed along the border just months ago has been largely stemmed.

The border fence has brought drive-through trafficking of illegal drugs to a stop. While drive-throughs across the border were once commonplace, these days it’s news when a drive-through does occur--and they happen only at gaps in the fence, no less.

The improvements to the border fence aren’t about “feel-good” politics. There are real problems along and away from the border that threaten the safety of Americans and Mexicans alike. Any step such as the border fence, which has helped reduce lawlessness, is a step in the right direction.

REP. RANDY CUNNINGHAM

R-San Diego