And while the Washington Post tries to raise the possibility that border crackdowns are the reason -- and even hints that the violence may be the work of "extremist vigilantes" without giving one shred of evidence to support such a charge -- the article really supports more aggressive action by law enforcement..

Among the statuesque saguaro cactuses in the desert south of this old mining town lies the remnant of a crime scene that federal authorities say signals a troubling and escalated level of violence associated with the human smuggling trade.

* * *

It is not clear whether this attack was the work of rival smugglers, extremist vigilantes or what are known in Spanish slang here as bajadores-- crews of bandits who steal human cargo throughout southern Arizona and from Phoenix stash houses to extort ransom from their families in Latin America or the United States. What is unusual, said Alonzo Peña, the new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent in charge of Arizona, is the recent frequency of the violence, the fact these incidents resulted in deaths and that they occurred in the desert, where the crime scenes are hard to find within the thousands of acres of sand and brush.

"There's more and more sophisticated, high-powered assault-type weapons being used . . . and there are back-to-back incidents," Peña said.

Smuggling violence has increased in Arizona during the past six months, the byproduct of a clampdown by federal immigration authorities, Peña said. The U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona remains the busiest illegal entry point in the country, but the increased concentration of Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops stationed there during the past year has made it harder to cross.

These human smugglers are nothing more than latter-day slavers. It is time to take treat them as such -- and that means also ratcheting up border security to make it harder and less-profitable to continue this trade in human flesh.

Posted by: Greg at 11:34 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 334 words, total size 2 kb.