Put the Bucks Along the Border : Developing a sensible immigration strategy

In a politically charged climate, money at the federal and state levels is talking loudly in the complicated formulation of immigration strategies along the U.S. border with Mexico. While the fiscal crunch is certainly not producing any more dollars, ironically it is helping shape some sensible policies and positions in Washington and Sacramento.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service now acknowledges that the money just isn’t there for the ambitious $30-million upgrade of the Border Patrol’s San Clemente checkpoint on Interstate 5, and that available resources for now are best concentrated along the border. Rep. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside), long an advocate of a bigger facility and one of those in Congress urging colleagues to ante up for immigration costs, is convinced this represents a fundamental strategic decision by the Clinton Administration. He has wisely folded his cards and called on Congress and the INS to close that checkpoint, and another one in Temecula, and to concentrate all resources and agents to the border.

Even if the money was there, we have argued that it makes no sense to try to control illegal immigration 62 miles inside the country. There, Border Patrol efforts to stem the tide on a busy interstate are hopelessly late in the process, largely ineffective and even dangerous. Rep. Lynn Schenk (D-San Diego) campaigned for office against the checkpoints in 1992, and later asked Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and INS Commissioner Doris Meissner good questions about the checkpoints’ cost-effectiveness.

For the record, the INS denies that it has lost confidence in checkpoints, but says pointedly that it is evaluating them in the current fiscal climate and in view of an Administration preference for border regulation. It is not difficult to read between the lines, however. What the INS really must do is determine how to reallocate personnel to the border in a cost-effective way, one that makes best use of the latest technology and that preserves constructive relations with Mexico in the era of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Speaking of cost-effectiveness, Gov. Pete Wilson has followed Florida and New York in efforts to recover from the federal government the cost of imprisoning illegal immigrants in state prisons. He’s right; California taxpayers should not have to bear the burden of this federal responsibility. The lawsuit can only strengthen the case made by these beleaguered states that the federal government must meet what are in fact federal obligations.