Although overshadowed by the Trump-Pelosi struggle in Washington, the multiple tunnel operations carried out near San Luis, Ariz., last week, showed that there is real talent on the other side of the border.
Here's what happened: According to ABC News, a record-breaking bunch of 376 aliens, probably largely from Central America, poured simultaneously through seven tunnels under the barrier in the desert to the east of the Yuma-San Luis port of entry. Most, if not all, of them turned themselves over to the Border Patrol, making asylum claims.
According to the report, the illegal entrants moved against a 26-mile portion of the border where only three Border Patrol agents were stationed. The barrier through this stretch of the border apparently has only a shallow footing and it is easy to create a tunnel or, more accurately, a hole in the sand, large enough to allow the entrance of migrants.
While I do not condone this activity, it shows a level of tactical brilliance and organizational skills; the person (or people) in charge:
- Knew the border well enough to pinpoint a vulnerable stretch, where there were few agents on duty, and the footings under the barriers were inadequate;
- Were creative enough to come up with the idea of the seven simultaneous intrusions;
- Had close enough ties to the illegal entrants to organize the seven intrusions; and
- Were smart enough to conduct the whole operation without reported violence and with most, if not all, of the aliens surrendering to the Border Patrol.
I am both impressed with this operation and wonder about the motivation of the ring-leader or ring-leaders. Was the point to undermine, if you pardon the expression, Trump's border policy?
Was it simply organized to get that batch of aliens into the country?
Was it a huge distraction that facilitated the success of either another movement of aliens nearby, or perhaps a large shipment of drugs?
Or was it an ego-driven action organized by someone showing that he (or she) could outsmart those Americans in a major way?
Or some combination of the above?
The government should make a major effort to identify the designers of this operation and, if they are in the States, charge them for their crimes.
The strong probability is that they are in Mexico, maybe plotting another operation, in which case the government might take a different and more imaginative stance.
Why not think in terms of identifying the talent, seeking them out, and offering the plotters an opportunity to become U.S.-funded community organizers back in Central America, creating organizations to stimulate economic development there, to head off future waves of illegal migrants? Andrew Jackson did something similar, by enlisting the local pirates to help defeat the British in the battle of New Orleans.
If the plotters, however, are from the Mexican cartels, that notion would not apply.