Two toxic ideas: first the border fence, now border poison
Isn't it enough that this country built about 700 miles of fencing along a 2,000-mile border with Mexico -- the previous administration's stunt gesture toward "border control" that ranks up there with the TSA yanking grannies out of line at the airport to show that it's protecting us from hijackers, and discrimination suits?
That infuriating fence despoiled hundreds of square miles of precious habitat and endangered thousands of species of flora and fauna while likely doing precious little to stop illegal immigration. (Funnily enough, what's slowed the northward flow most effectively is the crummy economy north of the border.)
Yet now this administration's Customs and Border Protection wants to Vietnamize the border. It wants to defoliate miles and miles of brush along the banks of the Rio Grande so that no one can hide in the canebrakes.
What, has some government contractor taken out a patent on some new chemical -- Agent Naranja?
More than 30 years after that fabled last helicopter left Vietnam, and this is what ranks as a big idea? The idea's on hold at the moment, mostly, I gather, to mollify the Mexicans. Americans living along the border have already had their property despoiled; the border law passed by Congress allows the fence to be no respecter of environmental concerns or property rights, all in the name of that unassailable imperative, homeland security.
I hope that the Obama administration will come to its senses, both about poisoning the banks of a vital river and about continuing the building of this ridiculous fence. Where is the Janet Napolitano who, as governor of Arizona, famously said: Show me a 50-foot-tall fence and I'll show you a 51-foot ladder? Has Homeland Security bamboozled her out of that?
You want to patrol the border and keep the habitat poison-free at the same time? I hear there are a lot of Americans out of work. Maybe some of them would like to put on a Border Patrol uniform. Maybe others of them would like to make topiary out of those bushes. And if we still can't persuade them to do the job, there's a labor hiring hall right across the border.
Wow! The rightist wing-nuts have certainly pounced to attack. The intensity of vitriol in their comments is scary like a lynch mob. This opinion piece doesn't seem particularly "leftist" although it may be a bit flippant. Still, it's no reason to attack Ms. Morrison so.
Maybe y'all are just mad because you lost the election big-time.
Posted by: aDUB | March 31, 2009 at 05:03 PM
What an assinine PC article! God save us from these stupid liberals and their group hug mentality. Is it too early to start calling for the impeachment of Comrade Obama?
Posted by: Joe Hopersberger | March 31, 2009 at 11:31 AM
Bweezy: Unless the people slipping across the border are Kumeyaay, Navajo, or Apache, this was not their land first. Mexico inherited their portion of the Spanish Empire after the revolution so to suddenly classify "Mexicans" as everyone who resided from modern day Nevada to Chiapas during a very narrow historical period (less than 30 years) is just silly. The entire idea of Azla is cherry-picking a historical period to claim that all the lines were drawn correctly then. Why not wind the clock back to reclaim lands the Aztecs or Mayans "stole" from the tribes they subjugated? Being Mexican is a nationality defined by borders that have existed for 150 years...it is not a racial right to a homeland. You can effectively argue that the U.S. needs cheap labor and has a history of allowing immigration, but don't fall back on the knee-jerk liberal argument, "this was their land first".
Posted by: CR | March 31, 2009 at 09:51 AM
We now have a war that is going on along vast stretches of our Southern border, and the most important thing you can talk about is the environment along that same border. What about our National Sovereignty? What about the rights of the people who live along that border? What about the fact that the people who are waging that war along the border might very much be some of the same people that would kill you if given the opportunity?
Posted by: Bruce Bjorklund | March 31, 2009 at 03:58 AM
The real reason the Left hates the "infuriating" border fence is because it works. This latest canard about "thousands of species" becoming endangered due to the fence is completely absurd. And yet you hear not one peep from Morrison and her ilk about the real problem of TONS of garbage being left in these same habitats by illegal aliens.
The 50 foot ladder argument is laughably disingenuous. I'd like to ask anyone supporting that pathetic retort if they have locks on the doors and windows of their homes. If so, why? You know if someone really wants to break into your house they can just smash the glass or kick in the door. So why bother with locks? You know why - it is a deterrent, just like the border fence.
As for Morrison's idea of putting unemployed Americans to work as Border Patrol agents, fine. But a few years ago when Americans did that on their own prerogative without the impetus of a recession, they were called Minutemen and the open-borders, pro-amnesty Left screamed bloody murder. Again, because the strategy worked.
Finally, I am actually not too keen on the massive use of herbicides either. I think a more environmentally friendly tactic would be to have all the excess alligators that are rounded up in the storm drains and backyards of the ever expanding suburbs of Florida trucked into the Southwest and released into the Rio Grande river. Tales of ten foot maneaters will spread throughout Mexico faster than a Chubacabra on Halloween. It would be a win-win situation. Discourage illegal immigration and help an endangered species at the same time. There is just one problem - it would work.
Posted by: Tommy Dorsett | March 30, 2009 at 11:41 PM
"I wonder if something like that would ever happen to the US: when Mexico would be better off than the US and US citizens would actually want to go to Mexico to work and live, but be rejected. Good and bad times happen to everybody.
Cesar"
Yes, and when we demand you teach us English in your Mexican schools and ask for free health care, make sure you return the favor.
Posted by: Dissentery | March 30, 2009 at 11:38 PM
I'm sure the illegals crossing the border do their best to side-step and avoid the precious flora and fauna as they scurry over to the U.S. In fact, they teach this in Mexico at local learning centers for border crossing. Not disturbing precious habitat and preserving the ecosystem is covered on the first day of class.
Posted by: Dissentery | March 30, 2009 at 11:35 PM
We are quick to call these people "illegal" immigrants even though this was their land before the invasion of the US. I believe there should be a resolution to this that wont hurt either side. They are coming to this country seeking a better life just like everyone elses ancestors did before us.
I know there can be terrorist coming over the border but facts have shown they come from the canadian border. So maybe we should control both borders equally...
Posted by: Bweezy | March 30, 2009 at 09:39 PM
The answer is land-mines. The would learn fast.
Posted by: Lefty | March 30, 2009 at 08:47 PM
Yes, President bush did have an immigratation strategy. It was his economic policy.
Posted by: David K | March 30, 2009 at 07:07 PM
Why can every other county protect their border, but when the U.S. does it's racism? America is in need of some form of immigration reform, but it will be worthless if we can't effectively track who enters the country. Call me a racist, but I'd prefer border safety to tumbleweed, scorpion, and rattlesnake habitat preservation.
Posted by: CR | March 30, 2009 at 07:01 PM
What about all the environmental damage these invaders do ALL OVER the deserts while sneaking across the border? What about all the private property they destroy sneaking over? There may be some environmental damage with the fence, but at least we know where it is and can develop ways to improve it; however, when we allow rampant illegal migration all over the border states, we cannot control that damage. If it does not stop them 100% it is still a barrier and a deterant and a message that you are not wanted - stay in your own country and demand rights and priviledges like you illegals do here.
Posted by: Christiana Lopez | March 30, 2009 at 07:00 PM
Mr. Morrison, don't pay attention to ignorance. These people have not evolved yet. Sad to know there are so many who cannot see the future optimistically. May God show them the way.
Posted by: JB | March 30, 2009 at 06:28 PM
I think it's funny that David Owen writes that the blog posting is "about what one would read in a high school paper." His comment is about what one would expect from a middle-school student. I also think its funny, though perhaps inevitable given the author's screen name, that stupidpeople uses “you're” in place of “your,” the possessive form of you. As to the content of the piece, I am disappointed that so many people see our neighbors in Mexico as some kind of alien hoard to be fenced out. If they don’t like illegal immigration, they should refuse to eat at restaurants and other businesses that hire illegals instead of destroying our desert environment.
Posted by: Randall Stoner | March 30, 2009 at 05:55 PM
President Bush deserves credit for finding a way to reduce illegal immigration: destroy the American economy to the point where fewer people want to come here. It's already working.
Posted by: mizzle | March 30, 2009 at 04:58 PM
Cry, cry, cry. I guess it's harder to give up the good things in life like the cheap illegal nanny, illegal gardener, illegal pool boy, illegal house keeper and so on.
I seriously doubt Pat Morrison's home doesn't have somekind of fence. So they do work.
Posted by: Not taxed enough | March 30, 2009 at 04:55 PM
Obama has to do what he can to fortify the border. If his administration shows any weakness, he will be crucified by the right. What happens if there is another terrorist attack or drug violence spills over from Mexico to the US? Fox News and Cheney, Rush, etc will be non-stop Obama bashing from here until the 2012 election. A few plants are not worth that sort of political risk.
Posted by: Kate | March 30, 2009 at 04:54 PM
Hey, L.A. Times...absurd, leftist, totally unapologetic about lawbreakers everywhere, in some theoretical attempt to MAKE everyone "equal"....(DUH). Exactly why do you think you are going out of business at a rate that accelerates every month?
Posted by: Michael T. LaMoy | March 30, 2009 at 04:44 PM
The author should walk through the deserts of Arizona near the border where there is no fence and see the foot-thick pile of garbage (clothes, empty water bottles, etc.). What "damage" has been done by the fence is nothing to the filth deposited by all those "immigrants."
Posted by: Roger | March 30, 2009 at 04:35 PM
I remember the time when Venezuela's currency was way better than in Colombia (4.50 Bolivars per dollar). Colombians were not well liked in Venezuela. Now the currencies are at similar levels (in the low two thousands per dollar) and the situation in Colombia seems better overall than in Venezuela.
I wonder if something like that would ever happen to the US: when Mexico would be better off than the US and US citizens would actually want to go to Mexico to work and live, but be rejected. Good and bad times happen to everybody.
Cesar
Posted by: Cesar | March 30, 2009 at 04:18 PM
While Ms. Morrison's writings are usually delightful and informative, this piece is neither.
The issues surrounding Carrizo cane (A. donax) are significant and complex, and we would be served by commentary that is more lucid and less "cute".
Posted by: aDUB | March 30, 2009 at 04:18 PM
This asinine leftist open border trash typical of the Times, along with use of the pc term 'undocumented immigrant' for 'illegal alien' are why I dropped my subscription after 30 years.
Posted by: Jim in Pasadena | March 30, 2009 at 03:39 PM
Patt, all I can say is, you're an idiot. Wake up and stop you're stupid,'we should all just get along' misguided attitude.
Posted by: stupidpeople | March 30, 2009 at 03:38 PM
This far left opinion piece is very stupid
And about what one would read in a high school paper.
Posted by: David Owens | March 30, 2009 at 03:25 PM
After they defoliate the border, what's next? Burying high-level radioactive waste across all 2,000 miles of La Linea so everyone who tries to cross it (in both directions) gets cancer? (That's what Douglas MacArthur wanted to do in Korea when Truman fired him.) Maybe if we renegotiated NAFTA and gave the Mexicans a chance to recover their economy through legitimate enterprises (instead of drug cartels) we wouldn't have to worry so much about undocumented immigration.
Posted by: Mark Conlan | March 30, 2009 at 02:29 PM