The Unwelcome Mat

If Californians believed they were settling an issue when they approved Proposition 187 by a 59% to 41% vote, they were wrong. The battle has spread to the courts and the marketplace. Last week a federal judge in Los Angeles temporarily blocked the state from implementing most provisions of the measure, which would deny services to illegal aliens, on the grounds that it may violate their civil rights. At the same time, the threat of a grass-roots boycott of California spread across North America, as groups ranging from the World Boxing Council to the National Association of Hispanic Journalists said they would retaliate by taking their business elsewhere.

All the furor over Proposition 187, however, has obscured an anti- immigration campaign that may have just as much impact, but far sooner. Attorney General Janet Reno has decided to try to virtually seal off the 2,076-mile border with Mexico to illegal crossers. The U.S. Border Patrol has long maintained it could accomplish this if given a chance, but the patrol has always been underfunded and understaffed.

Now the agency is getting its chance. The campaign started with successful experiments in the Border Patrol sectors in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego. Operation Hold the Line, which began a year ago in El Paso, has brought a 72% reduction in arrests, which are considered the most accurate bellwether of the number of illegal crossings. In the San Diego area, where half of all illegal immigrants into the U.S. sneak through the jagged canyons and urban alleys, a two-year tightening effort culminating in Operation Gatekeeper in October has reduced the number of arrests 30%. Inspired by these statistics, the Justice Department unveiled a plan to accomplish what many considered unimaginable only a few years ago: reduce the number of illegals crossing the border 90% during the next three years.

Though the timing of Reno's decision was clearly intended to help California Democrats in the November elections, most of whom opposed Proposition 187, it was more than just a campaign promise. The money is already flowing: $236 million has been allocated to the southwestern border for 1995, an increase of 25% from 1994. An additional 1,010 agents will soon be deployed, bringing the total to more than 5,000. Helicopters, night-vision scopes, ground sensors and computers are being brought in at unprecedented levels. When equipment has not been delivered, because of the glacial government procurement process, Reno has personally borrowed gear from the Pentagon.