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A proposal to deploy 10,000 U.S. troops on the TexasMexico border to fight
drug smuggling had a wooden stake driven through its heart Tuesday. Senate
and House negotiators agreed to a conference committee report without the
measure. Good riddance. A massive troop deployment along the international
divide would have been a classic case of overkill. Above all, the risk of
civil rights violations against border residents would have grown
enormously. But the decision hardly implies the dangers from drugs and drug
smugglers are over, either for residents of the border or interior
destinations such as Dallas. Sen. Phil Gramm and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison
have been right to press for more, better trained border agents. It is now
up to the Immigration and Naturalization Service to beef up the Border
Patrol and put hundreds of new agents to good use.