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A mainstream Arizona newspaper is decrying the small section of the Arizona-Mexico border that has a 14-foot-high primary fence because it is too high for illegal immigrants to safely cross. The article, “Border Fence Jumpers Breaking Bones,” includes the claim that sections of the border with a 14-foot-high fence are “as tall as a two or three-story house” and tells the stories of several women who broke bones and were treated extensively to healthcare and surgeries at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. The writer never mentions any lives directly lost as a result of there*notbeing a border fence in most sections, such as when Mexican nationals crossed into the U.S. and murdered father and husband Robert Rosas, a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
The*article in question*was written by Perla Trevizo for the*Arizona Daily Star. In the excerpt*below, note the section’s subtitle and the casual mention that the foreign woman had been deported multiple times prior:
A DREAM ENDS
For some, the fence is a last resort.
Maria Ibarra, 28 and also from Oaxaca, had tried crossing through Nogales and El Paso in April, but both times she was sent back to Mexico.
This time she was determined to get through. She left her 10-year-old son with her parents in Oaxaca. He was born in South Carolina, where she lived for two years before going back to Mexico in 2006 so her parents and siblings could meet her son.
Once there, she said, her son started losing his hearing in one ear and having seizures.
“All I wanted was an opportunity to fight my case,” she said. She hoped her son could join her or maybe she could get a permit to visit the hospitals where he was first treated. But she already had a couple of deportations and a voluntary return to Mexico.
Interestingly, the part about the woman hoping her son could join her is errant in not mentioning that once her son does join her in the U.S., the woman and her son would likely be permitted to stay because they would then be an incomplete family unit.
The assertion that the border fence is as tall as a two or three-story house came from Fernando Valdez, Mexico’s deputy consul general in Nogales, Arizona. He was quoted as stating, ““What surprises us is that people continue to jump from heights that can be the equivalent of a two- or even three-story house,” he said. “But we hear they feel pressured to do it because they are holding the line or they start insulting them, telling them to jump.”
The second part of his statement appears to be directed towards U.S. Border Patrol agents, but the writer left the intended direction of the assertion ambiguous. Of course, if that be the case, the Border Patrol routinely saves illegal immigrants’ lives, as the article inadvertently makes clear. Mexican authorities routinely demonize and attack U.S. Border Patrol agents, even in cases where agents have acted in self-defense against the violent narco-traffickers or other violent individuals.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the advocacy article is that the writer did not mention why a segmented border security fence exists. The fence, which contrary to left-of-center media assertions does not encompass most of the border, was built largely to stop violent criminals from their routine entering and existing of U.S. communities. Two instances come to mind, though in both cases the “wall” has yet to be built in those specific segments.
In 2002, the FBI engaged in a sting operation in Sunland Park, New Mexico along the U.S.-Mexico Border. The effort was spurred by Mexicans routinely crossing the border and robbing trains of cargo. Mexicans would jump the small chain-link fence that served as the area’s only border security and rob the train cars. They would then simply jump back across the fence and U.S. authorities were powerless to stop them. Mexican authorities, often corrupted by the criminal organizations behind the robberies and thefts, did nothing to stop the crimes.
Two FBI special agents got separated from their group in the sting. One of them was a woman. The two agents were surrounded by dozens of Mexican nationals who beat them unconscious and caused severe injuries, including broken facial bones. A federal agent with knowledge of the incident spoke to Breitbart Texas on the condition of anonymity and said, “There were indicators that the Mexican nationals were trying to drag the unconscious body of the female FBI agent back with them into Mexico.”
This writer*previously*covered the issue in 2013*and wrote, “Only a few of the men were eventually prosecuted, as*most were deported back to Mexico prior to prosecution. Unless something else happened or they moved, the men are still free and presumably operating in the area.”
The second case mentioned above is*the murder of Border Patrol agent Robert Rosas. Border sensors went off in an area of California that has a small metal fence separating Mexico from the United States. Agent Rosas was dispatched to check on the sensors. As he arrived and walked up on a bluff, five Mexican nationals jumped him and ruthlessly beat him to death. He fought for his life, but they ultimately overwhelmed him. The Mexican nationals stole Agent Rosas’ gun and gear and then fled back into Mexico. It took years before Mexican authorities would cooperate and help Rosas’ family have peace and justice.
These are just two of the cases that encourage the building of border fences. The very nature of a fence is that it poses a difficulty or risk to unauthorized crossings in an area, such as in the recent issue ofBarack Obama’s White House raising the height of their fence to keep unwanted people from crossing. In Arizona’s specific border situation, there exist two border sectors: the Tucson Sector and the Yuma Sector. Though the Yuma Sector is largely locked down with significant coverage of technology and a primary and secondary fence, the Tucson Sector is largely open. Most of the sector has no fence at all and can be freely crossed at the whim of any person in Mexico wishing to enter the United States.
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