Tempus Fugit

Michael points me to a report regarding the fallout from the Minuteman project which observed illegal immigration across the Mexico/Arizona border. Allegedly, the Border Patrol doesn’t want the project to highlight its past failings, and has ordered its agents to minimize arrests, so that there is no increase in arrests to attribute to the project.

U.S. Border Patrol agents have been ordered not to arrest illegal aliens along the section of the Arizona border where protesters patrolled last month because an increase in apprehensions there would prove the effectiveness of Minuteman volunteers, The Washington Times has learned.

More than a dozen agents, all of whom asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, said orders relayed by Border Patrol supervisors at the Naco, Ariz., station made it clear that arrests were “not to go up” along the 23-mile section of border that the volunteers monitored to protest illegal immigration.

“It was clear to everyone here what was being said and why,” said one veteran agent. “The apprehensions were not to increase after the Minuteman volunteers left. It was as simple as that.”

Another agent said the Naco supervisors “were clear in their intention” to keep new arrests to an “absolute minimum” to offset the effect of the Minuteman vigil, adding that patrols along the border have been severely limited.

Washington Times: Border Patrol told to stand down in Arizona

So basically, the Border Patrol sucks, and isn’t doing its job. The Minuteman project brought that fact to light. And now, the Border Patrol sucks so much that they’re perfectly content to suck even more, just to make it look like their critics didn’t affect the situation positively. Welcome to September 10th, 2001 May 14th, 2005. We’re frisking Senators in airports and giving strip searches to elderly white women, but our borders are wide open to anyone who wants to cross on foot.