Onward Boxer’s Soldiers . . .

The Blue Ribbon Committee served long and well, a valuable ally of any politician burdened with an intractable problem. No issue was ever so sticky, so hot, that it couldn’t be studied to death. But this approach, it would appear, has become a bit dated. Today there seems to be a new panacea in town--the National Guard.

Forget about sandbagging swollen rivers and quelling riots. Politicians are full of new tasks to throw at our fabled weekend warriors. In Washington, D.C., for example, the mayor wants Guard troops to help police her murderous streets. And on our coast, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer is promoting what she calls, ever so modestly, “the Boxer National Guard Plan.”

Her idea is interesting. So are train wrecks. Boxer wants to “bolster the border patrol” with National Guard units. She first proposed this in July, in the heat of a political feeding frenzy on undocumented workers from Mexico. At the time, it seemed destined for quick burial in the boneyard of bad ideas, a one-day headline. Amazingly, the creature lives.

A press release from Boxer’s office last Friday reported that her plan had taken “another major step forward,” receiving approval of the full U.S. Senate. The press release also invited reporters to submit any questions on the Boxer National Guard Plan to the senator’s staff. It happens that I do have a few questions, and I submit them herewith.

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Why now? What has happened this year to justify sending down military units? Boxer has served in Washington a long time. Why didn’t she jump on this when she was in the House? Did she just now discover the issue? Or did she just now discover the value of appearing tough on the issue? Surely she is not blaming undocumented Mexican gardeners for the recession or defense industry layoffs, or is she?

Why immigration? Accept for one moment the proposal’s unstated premise that the Guard doesn’t have enough to do. Does Boxer believe illegal border traffic is the biggest fire burning in California? Why not call out the Guard to protect school children from gunplay? Or to combat gang warfare and carjackings? Better yet, why not assign Guard troops to those hard jobs only undocumented workers now seem willing to take? Let the militia mow lawns, pick crops, bus dishes, baby-sit children. Wouldn’t this remove the main incentive for Mexicans to travel to California in the first place?

Or does Boxer buy into the bandwagon rhetoric that Mexicans are here for the welfare? Can we expect her to start advancing major welfare reform? I mean, why nibble at just one end of the problem when you can take on welfare queens and illegal supplicants in one swoop?

Exactly what would Boxer have the Guard troops do on the border? There seems to be some confusion. Her press release lists a broad range of possible duties--processing paperwork, hauling prisoners, searching vehicles, surveillance. Are Guard members on two-week summer duty the best government employees for these tasks? Or maybe she plans to activate Guard units for longer stints? How long would she keep these troops on the border? When will we know we see light at the end of the tunnel?

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Indeed, what is the end game? Is the goal to stop all illegal crossings? Or is it simply to escalate the symbolism? If the mission is to seal the border permanently, to buy the whole Checkpoint Charlie package, doesn’t that require a response beyond temporary deployment of National Guard troops? Why not Marines? Why not the Army? Why not spend the money to beef up the perpetually underfunded and ill-equipped Border Patrol? Conversely, if the goal here is something less than sealing the border, why even bother?

What if this doesn’t work? Do we call out the Air National Guard? A little napalm in the Tijuana River twice a day? Worse, what if it does work? Is Boxer prepared to stand tall against farmers demanding to know who is supposed to pick their crops, against factory owners who’ve lost a reliable source of low-wage labor. Also, if we make it impossible for undocumented workers to cross the border, won’t that convince those already here to hunker down and stay for good? Is Boxer sure she has the horses where she wants them before she slams the barn door?

And finally, why Barbara Boxer? She once was known as a liberal maverick who took on Pentagon spending. If this flies, she will go down forever as the California politician who introduced military solutions to the delicate issue of immigration. Is this how she wants to be remembered? Perhaps it’s not too late to form a committee.