EFFORT TO STEM ALIENS' INFLOW MAY BE FUTILE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100130087-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 2011
• Sequence Number: 87
• Publication Date: June 29, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Si Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100130087-5
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE -
WASHINGTON POST
29 June 1984
M
Effort to SternV-that the 2,300-member U.S. Border
Patrol-with fewer than 300 on duty
-at any given time-doesn't stand a
Aliens Inflow' ice.
The patrol concentrates its mea-
May Be Futile ger manpower at such `easy" cross-
ings as Laredo and El Paso, Tex.;
The immigration bill now working Douglas, Ariz., and Chula Vista,
its way through Congress is intend- Calif., counting on the life-threaten-
ed, among other things, to stem the ing rigors of the rugged mountains
flood of illegal aliens who have been and scorching deserts at other points
pouring ng across the Mexican border to discourage illegal immigrants. Not
ppot crosscthd. surprisingly, the patrol has caught
But it could all be a futile effort if only a small percentage of the un-
something isn't done to cure Mex- the bordemi~ recent crossed
ico's internal economic troubles. It's A significant ingredient in the
the desperate poverty of Mexico's Mexican peasants' desperation is
peasants that impels them to seek their frustration over the way they
menial jobs in the United States, have been ground down by the priv-
living the shadowy existence of ille- ileged few.
gal aliens in daily fear of discovery A few years ago, when Mexico's
and deportation. huge oil reserves were discovered, it
As long as life for Mexico's poor is seemed as if the economic troubles
.without hope, they will 'continue to were at last over. But the wealthy 10
cross the border. Nothing short of a percent and their hirelings in the
1,933-mile Berlin Wall will stop dominant political party skimmed
them. off billions and left nothing to trickle
In fact, my associate Dale Van down to the 40 percent of the pop-
Atta has learned that the Pentagon ulation that lives in abject poverty.
is considering a plan only slightly Mexico is now saddled with more
less drastic. A Defense Intelligence than $80 billion in foreign debt.
Agency study is trying to determine Indicative of the frustration and
how many U.S. Army divisions despair is the outpouring of grateful
would be required to seal off the po- letters I've received in response to
rous Mexican border. my recent reports on the misuse of
It's not clear that even the Army Mexico's wealth by government of-
could accomplish this formidable ficials at every level.
task. What is abundantly clear is It is "about time to take off the
masks of the criminal traitors and
show to the entire world who is re-
sponsible for our backwardness and
misery," one Mexican wrote. "[They]
steal in a cynical and outrageous way
and ... there are no trials against
these thieves [or] jail terms. Never
will we be able to pay back what has
been 'borrowed' by this den of
thieves, and the people will keep on
deeper and deeper in their misery."
U.S. intelligence sources agree
with this depressing prediction. As a
confidential State Department re-
port warned, "Serious efforts to nar-
row the gap between Mexico's priv-
ileged and Mexico's poor would pro-
duce friction and resistance on the
part of those with the most to
lose"-that is, the ruling party elite
and their cronies.
President Miguel de is Madrid's
efforts to institute a strict austerity
program (though without altering
the unfair distribution of wealth)
will only encourage the flow of illegal
immigrants into this country. This
could have serious implications for
U.S. society.
"One does not have to subscribe to
a Goths-and-Vandals theory on the
downfall of civilizations to accept
that the wave of Mexican immi-
grants is damaging," another State
Department report observes. And
when hard times and unemployment
hit U.S. workers, it warns, the grow-
ing sentiment against illegal aliens
could become "overwhelming."
I Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100130087-5