Van gets stuck atop border fence

For the folks who think the border wall is going to work, check out this story from yesterday: A van that illegally crossed a remote, desert stretch of the U.S-Mexico border got stuck atop a metal barrier after a makeshift ramp collapsed under its weight.

You've got to hand it to the migrants for their ingenuity and optimism - I certainly wouldn't have expected a Chevy Astro to accomplish such a feat.

But this story demonstrates that people will think their way around any barrier that is erected, working in increasingly remote areas that lead, inevitably, to increased risks. A recent Reuters article titled, "More Migrants Die as U.S. Tightens Border security," reports the probability of a record number of deaths in 2007.

"Has enhanced border security increased the number of migrant deaths? Unquestionably," said Wayne Cornelius, an immigration expert at the University of California San Diego. "There is no other way to explain the sharp increase in fatalities."

Maybe this is the new immigration strategy- kill them before they can take our jobs, steal our women, and plunder our larders.

The fence is being built, slowly but surely, on our southern boundary, and if you think this isn't a public lands or conservation issue, think again.

The final five miles of fencing in San Diego will cover some of the most rugged terrain and most sensitive habitats on the border. For example, to fill an area called "Smuggler's Gulch," crews are expected to move nearly 3 million tons of dirt — enough to fill about 100,000 giant dump trucks.

Border Patrol officials say they need a fence in the gulch because its urban surroundings give agents limited time to catch people before they melt into the local population.

But environmentalists worry that shifting dirt will spill north into a federally protected estuary, disrupting a key stopover for more than 370 species of migratory and native birds.

Birds, schmirds.

-Lozen