Confessions of an Aztec Law Student

Why Moving Troops to the Border is a Stupid, Impotent Gesture

May 26, 2010 at 2:29 pm (Uncategorized) (AK-47s, Al Qaeda, automatic rifles, border security, illegal immigration, Mexican drug cartels, military, National Guard, national security, people with guns, President Obama, Republican Party, stupid ideas, things that don't work, troop movements, U.S.-Mexico border, West Africa)

So President Obama decided to pull yet another page out of the George W. Bush playbook and deploy 1,200 National Guard soldiers to the U.S. Mexico border. (Hey Repubs! Why are you trying so hard to get Obama kicked out? The darling of the Democratic Party is pushing *your* agenda *for you*. That seems like win, guys.) For those of you who would brush this off and say, “but it’s the National Guard, it’s not like it’s the Marines,” I defy you to watch this video and not be impressed by what the National Guard can do.

Not even kidding. When I first saw this video in the movie theater, I yelled out “Fuck Yeah! AMERICA!!” Ask my friend B. Who is an Asian immigrant.

Full disclosure: I have close friends in the military. I respect the armed forces, I grew up in an Army town, I like guns (albeit with regulation), I’m thinking about Air Force JAG after law school, and when it comes to national security, I’m more hawk than dove. And I say this will all due respect — the National Guard presence is wholly unnecessary and an ineffectual waste of money.

This weekend I was at a political fundraiser in Albuquerque for New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Diane Denish. While I’m not a New Mexico registered voter, she made an excellent point about this whole debate: illegal immigration and border security are two separate issues. Illegal immigration deals with mostly benign people coming into the U.S. looking for work that can easily be deported. Border security deals with the fact that  Mexico is on the cusp of state failure and that armed narco-terrorist groups that can kill people have paramilitary wings a la Blackwater and pirate patrols on the Texan lakes.

Deploying these troops conflates the two issues. The troops that have been deployed are not there for border security. They are there to “gather intelligence” on who crosses the desert. That would be great for border security, except most of the people who cross the desert are disoriented, dehydrated Mexicans looking to mow lawns and re-tile houses. Not huge security threats. That problem can be solved legislatively. (Also, just FYI, we have a group that gathers intel on the border. It’s called the Border Patrol. Fund it right so that you don’t have to cut 9,790 planned new agents and we wouldn’t have this problem.)

Meanwhile, the cartels get tons of cocaine across the border *legally* every year at ports-of-entry because our bridges are grossly understaffed and lack the technology to do check most cars for drugs. Even when they do, sometimes the cartel pays people to look the other way. They have access to top-secret U.S. intelligence reports. Also, the guns the cartel uses? They’re illegal in Mexico. They get them from us, because the Founding Fathers wanted us to go deer-hunting with AKs without background checks.

And if we’re hoping that this troop movement keeps the cartel violence on Mexican soil, too late, because they’re already active on U.S. soil. Hell, the cartels have ties in Sierra Leone and use West Africa as a base to sell drugs to Europe, and there are worries that Al Qaeda could be cooperating with Latin American cartels and establishing connections to smuggle drugs across the Sahara.

Anyone starting to see why this border deployment is pointless? We are spending $500 million to have U.S. soldiers point their guns at Mexican viejitas while the cartel funnels money from Europe and uses it to turn Ciudad Juarez — a city that literally abuts our southern border — into the murder capital of the world. It makes Baghdad look like Disneyland. We are wasting our time demonizing the “good” Mexicans while letting the “bad” Mexicans slip past our radar. If Obama — or anyone else — was serious about border security, this is what they should do:

1. Recall the troops and give that $500 million to somebody else. Literally, anyone else. DEA could use it to expand their West Africa offices and cut off cartel funding from Europe. FBI could use it to disrupt the cartel’s U.S. distribution network in all 50 states. Even Border Patrol could use it to keep out illegal immigrants, if that’s what you really want. But $500 million wasted on political theater to impress Republicans who will hate you no matter what is stupid. Make real changes.
2. Law-enforcement needs to stop going after low-level users and target dealers more aggressively. Cut plea deals or grant immunity to low-level cooperative smugglers in order to get them to rat out their bosses. And keep people like Barrio Azteca from arranging hits from inside prisons. Cut off their communications with the outside world and with each other.
3. Seriously implement the suggestions made by the 9/11 Commission. That whole idea about federal agencies *talking* to each other? That’s brilliant. I want more of that.
4. Require people to register their AK-47s or any other automatic rifles, if not ban them completely. Seriously, what private citizen needs an AK? We don’t live in Grand Theft Auto and it’s not like the deer you’re hunting is packing heat.
5. Do something about drugs. U.S. drug money helps fund Mexico’s instability. A lot of people say that legalizing marijuana will cripple the cartels financially. I don’t believe that, since the cartels get most of their money from coke, and it upsets me when people use death as a way to forward a pro-marijuana agenda. That being said, maybe I’m wrong, and something needs to change. Get smart people to work on that.

And as for the whole illegal immigrant thing, that can be fixed when the Republicans decide to stop obstructing immigration reform just to watch Obama fail during the next election. Seriously guys, you’re shooting yourself in the foot by riling up the Tea Partyers and trying to get Palin into office. Nixon was more of a left-wing socialist than Obama. You have someone smart who’s willing to compromise his ideals and continue Bush policies to make you happy. GO WITH IT! And fix some of the problems you’ve started.

*Breathes*

Kthxbai.

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