Today's news post is truly a news item, a group of legislators and government officials having returned Tuesday from the Arizona border on a fact-finding mission.
Among them was Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, who has said he will craft legislation in Utah similar to the Arizona legislation stirring a national firestorm.
I can't offer the Sandstrom angle, though, other than to say he was there, as I didn't speak to him. I spoke to Todd Richardson, sheriff-elect in Davis County.
"We've created an illusion for the citizens of this country that we have some kind of security down there," he said, adding that such security just isn't the case. "We don't have a secure border," he said.
The fences are often in ill repair, and a person being able to walk right through them. "We should have double-fencing all the way (across the Mexican border) like they have in San Diego," Richardson said.
He said he has heard the double fencing in San Diego has cut entries by 90 percent.
"The number-one thing is the fence," he said when asked what the border agents need to do their job.
One bit of information Richardson brought back with me shocked me: He said those smuggling drugs are set free if caught with less than 500 pounds -- just kicked back across the border. Why would they simply be let go? "That's what our question was and the border patrol agent had no answer at all," he said.
I have a friend who I spoke to after talking to Richardson (it was he who told me Richardson had just returned from the border and suggested I call him) and he suggested many of those coming across with drugs have been physically threatened, forcing them serve as drug couriers.
Could the border policy of not prosecuting for less than 500 pounds be a mercy ruling saving the pack-mule illegals from prosecution for a crime they have little choice but to perform? I don't know.
At any rate, Richardson said the drug rings often send their couriers over with about 490 pounds, just cutting under the limit. And, when they are turned back across the border, the couriers are free to try again -- and often do the very next day.
How many of the illegal immigrants are bringing drugs? I asked, my friend having told me Richardson told him a large percentage do. "I don't know the ratio," Richardson said, but then said the border agent told him a third or forth of those coming across are carrying assault rifles or drugs.
Richardson also found the borders are not so secure that a person could not just go hang out for a good portion of a day without being discovered by border agents. He said his group was down there for a few hours, unmolested and unquestioned and without seeing patrolling officers. Evidently, though, the media got wind of the government delegation (Arizona government officials were there with the Utah officials) and the border patrol was notified when the media called inquiring. Suddenly, three or four trucks appeared out patrolling. "It was politically advantageous to make it look like they had a presence," Richardson said.
Richardson also spoke of ramps the smugglers use, setting them up at the fences and using them to drive their pickups across. I didn't think to ask if the double fencing like there is in San Diego would solve that problem.
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