READERS REACT: IT'S TIME TO PUT MILITARY ON BORDER PATROL

Author: William S.King Jr.-Mr. King is executive vice president of
Americans for Responsible Immigration in Irvine. He is a former chief
patrol agent for the western region of the U.S. Border Patrol. He takes
issue with our editorial criticizing the idea of using the military to help
civilian border patrol efforts.

We agree with your Memorial Day editorial, "Mission creep," that it was an
apt day to reflect - but not with your view on the decision made in the
House of Representatives that would allow the military to patrol U.S.
borders. We believe that it was a day to think about those citizen soldiers
who have given their lives to protect this country and all that it stands
for.

We doubt that any of them would disagree with the notion that it is time to
place the military on our borders to protect this country from the silent
invasion we have experienced over the last several decades. This invasion,
although not military in nature, presents dangers to our nation of a kind
never before experienced. Our borders are wide open to drug traffickers,
terrorists, criminals, disease carriers and those who come with complete
disregard for our laws, to take up illegal residence and compete for jobs
and other benefits with our own citizens and legal residents.

You expressed little faith in the abilities of our troops to provide
assistance and support to our border enforcement agencies. You implied that
they are trained to perform one kind of a job and give the impression that
they are not equal to assuming another role. This is not true. We have the
best educated, best trained military personnel in the world and they have
given magnificent demonstrations of their abilities to assume policing
activities (without the aggressive behavior you suggest) in Haiti, Bosnia
and other nations.

Nobody advocates the assignment of the military to the border without
appropriate training and coordination with the responsible civil
authorities. We would point out, however, that it has already been
successfully used for the interdiction of illegal aliens coming to the
United States from Cuba and Haiti, and in the Caribbean to interdict drugs
from Colombia. So, why not for the protection of our land borders, where
the vast majority of these illegal activities occur?

Where are our national priorities in this regard? If our troops are as
thinly scattered around the world as you describe, should we not be giving
greater consideration to our own borders than, say, Bosnia's?

Let's examine the facts, First, the enforcement agencies whose
responsibilities are to protect our borders - the Border Patrol, INS and
Customs - are well-trained professionals who do a splendid job with their
available resources. The problem is that, in spite of recent budget and
personnel increases, they are not adequately staffed and resourced to
perform their mission, with the result that even the INS admits the there
are at least 5 million illegal aliens living and working in this country,
with a net gain of another 250,000 each year.

Our drug czar, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, was quoted last year as saying that
"the Mexican government is cooperating in the war on drugs but it will be a
decade-long effort to realize control."

The pressures caused by both illegal aliens and drugs will continue to
increase until our government has the courage to face the problem for what
it has become - a national disgrace. Fortunately, our six members of the
House of Representatives voted for House Amendment 648, and we commend them
for their fortitude.

The untimely death of Esquiel Hernandez Jr. is not the first such death on
the Mexican border, nor will it be the last - with or without the presence
of the military. American border-area residents live in fear of the drug
runners and alien smugglers. Our government's reluctance to "upset the
apple cart" with Mexico and other sending countries is severely detrimental
to our citizens and legal residents. We are being asked to pay a very high
price because our present policies afford the smugglers access to bring
drugs and aliens across the border.

The question is, why? Why are we required to import their poverty? Why do
we continue to allow the importation of lethal illegal drugs by the
hundreds of tons across the Mexican border each year?

The truth is that our government has failed its own people, and for whom?
Is it the cheap labor advocates? The multinational business interests? The
alien-rights activist groups? It's certainly not the average America - just
ask any one of them.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)