Insights into What's Going On With Arizona's "Immigrant Problem"

Arizona Rancher Says Immigrants on his Property are a 24-7 Problem,

An Arizona rancher gave some insights into the "illegal problem" in an interview with a local daily newspaper in Cochise County.  The ranch he owns is located just north of the Mexican border, in the San Pedro River valley, near the small community of Hereford.  The San Pedro River is unique in that it flows north, from its source in the mountains near the mining town of Cananea, Sonora about thirty miles south of the border, into Arizona between the Cochise County towns of Bisbee and Sierra Vista.  Normally, it's a small stream, a vital water source in the desert, and supports cattle ranches scattered all over the valley. 

The San Pedro Valley has always been a place used by migrants to enter the United States from Mexico.  I grew up in the San Pedro Valley, not too far from where this particular ranch is located.  Every ranch and farm in the area has, at one time or another, used the labor of migrant workers who come from Mexico, and many of them still do.  When my family lived in company housing, next door to a small ranch, we knew the migrant workers there by name, and they mowed lawns in our neighborhood for additional money.  In all honesty, if it weren't for the labor of those migrant workers, who are in the United States without documentation, most of the ranchers in Cochise County, and elsewhere in the southwest, would be out of business.  

The newspaper in which this interview was published, the Sierra Vista Herald-Review, is the only daily in Cochise County.  It is based in Sierra Vista, a small city adjacent to the county's largest employer, the U.S. Army at Fort Huachuca.  Few residents of Sierra Vista or the communities where the majority of residents work at Fort Huachuca, are culturally connected to the rest of Cochise County, including the ranching culture.  So it is possible for a conservatively oriented media source to use this as a political issue, stoking fear and drumming up support for their preferred politicians.  The newspaper has recently introduced a section they call "Border" for which they produce articles aimed at keeping people "informed" about local immigration issues, with, of course, a conservative bias.  

Inadvertent Compliments and a Report About the Effectiveness of Biden Administration Border Control Measures

Of course, early in the interview, the writer points to the rancher's dislike of President Biden.  But then an interesting thing happens.  In an attempt to point to a border crisis that is out of control, the author actually documents the effectiveness of Border Patrol efforts to catch immigrants crossing the ranch property, and also documents that the immigrant problem in the San Pedro Valley was "much worse in previous years" than it is now, the rancher's words.  

In capturing immigrants crossing this ranch property, the Border Patrol is working closely with the Cochise County Sheriff's department in the kind of cooperative effort with law enforcement that Republicans insist the Biden Administration isn't doing.  And the apparently well-funded Border Patrol has placed sensors all over the ranch property, which alert them to the presence of immigrants, who usually come in pairs or groups of three.  Immigrants don't cross the border at the point where the river crosses, even though it is easier to do so because of an opening allowing water to pass through, because of the high amount of surveillance.  But apparently, the surrounding ranches all have the sensors.  

The rancher in the interview also notes that the number of immigrants coming across his property now is lower than it has been in the past.  Really?  So under the previous Presidential administration, there were more immigrants coming across the border?  Twice as many?  And the Border Patrol didn't have the sensors or equipment to stop most of it, as they do now?  

Also, the rancher notes, there has been property damage.  Mainly, the issue is cutting fences.  He's lost several cows due to their wandering out of the property and onto a nearby highway.  Or, they wander down into the river bottom, where it is hard to get them back out.  No mention is made in the article of the crime rate increase in Cochise County as a result of this influx of immigration.  That might be because the crime rate has not increased.  Not at all.  It's probably safe to assume that apprehended immigrants are included in the arrest records, and some of the lead car drivers who get caught are part of that.  But immigrants crossing the border are not factoring into the arrests in the county for violent crime, robberies or even misdemeanors.  

The rancher voiced the common complaints of Republicans about immigration.  "The federal government does little to support the Border Patrol and its mission of protecting the county's borders," he said.  So expensive surveillance equipment, sensors on remote ranch property, a doubling in the number of officers working in Cochise County and an overall increase in the Border Patrol budget, which is now twice as much as it was during the Trump administration, is "little support"?  

And apprehending most of the 100 immigrants each day on this single ranch, within 5 miles of where they crossed the border, isn't success in achieving the Border Patrol's mission and purpose?  Then what would be success?

A Sign of Things to Come and Clues About Resolving the Problem

The writer makes note of the diversity found in the country of origin of those crossing into the United States.  Mexico is still the largest source of immigrants, but other Central and South American countries are factoring into the picture, most notably Venezuela and Nicaragua.  When one of the core values of your country is being a haven for the oppressed, and it happens to be on the same continent as countries where people are being oppressed, tormented, terrorized and even sold into slavery because of political and social upheaval, and the ravages of poverty, some will try to escape to a place they believe will offer them a better life.  And they're willing to risk their lives to do it.  

Let's be honest.  Other than those whose ancestors are the original native Americans, the rest of us are here because our ancestors saw America as a haven for the oppressed and risked their lives to get here. It has nothing at all to do with the conspiracy of "replacement theory," in which I am sure both the publisher of the Herald Review and the rancher featured in the interview believe, indicated by their approach to this piece.  

Resolving the immigration problem is much more complicated than equipping the Border Patrol with more officers and more high tech equipment, though this seems to be successful in apprehending most people who are crossing the border illegally. One thing about which the county sheriff is correct, is that this does have the potential to turn into a real humanitarian crisis.  And if that is the case, then do we trust the Republican party and its politicians to be in charge of it and resolve it without further oppression and torment of the victims of whatever political upheaval is causing it?  

I don't.