Unexpected Evidence in the Capability of Fencing

Meant to post this a while back before the holiday and never got to posting it.

via National Geographic, of all places. Arizona's Organ Pipe National Monument is seeing unprecedented foot traffic by illegal immigrants and drug smugglers - after a fence was built preventing vehicular traffic through the park. Seems more fencing might be in order, don't you think?

"Fred Patton, chief ranger at the monument, said that since the 30-mile (48-kilometer) barrier was completed in July 2006, it has been almost 100-percent effective in keeping out illegal vehicles. The remote monument had been a popular crossing point for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers since 2001, Patton said. Upwards of a thousand people a day were crossing through the park, as vehicles loaded with people and drugs barreled through the desert.
"We were getting multiple vehicles that were bringing in either narcotics or illegal entrants," Patton said."

Of course, it can also be pointed out that the traffic near San Diego has dropped considerably since the fencing there was put up at the border as well. Thank you, Congressman Duncan Hunter (my preferred VP candidate for Fred!). Now you could argue that the fence just shifts the traffic elsewhere, which is true to some extent, but if you built a fence along the entire border, it would have to substantially inhibit traffic travelling north. Some people would still be so desperate they would still try, of course, but it would certainly inhibit many of those traveling north from even trying, and perhaps pressure the government of our southern neighbor to get its own house in order economically, so that its very productive and hard working citizens it now exports to our nation could succeed economically at home, where they belong.