US fights a border-crime 'epidemic'

Law-enforcement agencies find new ways to coordinate their efforts to stem the rise of violence on the border with Mexico.

from the April 25, 2007 edition

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Controversial arrests

Although Arpaio's arrests are controversial here, Peña says his office is discussing implementing more 287G agreements with the Phoenix Police Department and with the sheriffs' offices in two other border counties, Pima and Santa Cruz.

Pima County Sheriff Dupnik's counterpart in Yuma, Sheriff Ralph Ogden, is also on the front line battling increased border violence, and they've banded together in a consortium of 28 border sheriffs who meet to share common concerns, best practices, and collectively lobby their congressional leaders and other federal government officials for more attention and help.

Ogden and 14 of his colleagues in the coalition, for example, met Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in Washington Tuesday. All 28 members plan to meet in May in San Diego.

But some experts don't see law enforcement as the sole solution.

"The increased enforcement has come with significantly increased costs, both in terms of what this country is spending at the border for agents and Guard troops, and also in terms of human costs for crossers," says Luis Cabrera, a political scientist at Arizona State University. "As possible routes dwindle and are in more remote terrain, crossers continue to die in high numbers. They are easier prey for border gangs, and they may be more susceptible to kidnapping or extortion."

Mr. Cabrera goes on to say that Congress should consider all these factors as it debates immigration reform. "It's not realistic to say that there should be no enforcement," he says. "But we should take a hard look at an overall border policy that exacts such a toll on individuals without basic criminal intent who, in the big picture, are important to many sectors of the US economy."

Nestor Rodriguez, a sociologist at the University of Houston and an expert on immigration issues, agrees.

"What may reduce it is a new immigration policy that incorporates legally a significant number of immigrant workers that already participate in our labor force but in extra-legal manners," Professor Rodriguez says. "When more migrant workers can enter legally, the use of smugglers may decline significantly."

• Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Part I of this series ran Tuesday.

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