Rio patrol
Plan better than nothing, but inadequate

In making a down payment toward controlling the TexasMexico border, the
Immigration and Naturalization Service now promises to deploy 69
additional guards to the region. But even if substantial reinforcements
follow, "Operation Rio Grande" will be little more than political window
dressing if new guards are not deployed appropriately.

It might be tempting to say the effort coming out of the federal
immigration service is too little too late, but that would be defeatist.
And when it comes to the controversial issues besetting two neighbors
sharing a 2,000milelong border, defeatism is particularly
unacceptable.

We must keep improving the border operations to maximize the economic
opportunities between our two countries; the trick is to improve
security checks of unauthorized border crossings without throwing cold
water on legitimate trade.

Immigration Service Commissioner Doris Meissner is naturally trying to
cast the effort in the best possible light. Notably, she paid homage to
the widely hailed border control efforts of former El Paso sector border
patrol chief Silvestre Reyes, now a Democratic member of Congress.
That's a start.

But Mr. Reyes' initiative was a much more resolute effort than anything
that has been done since then. Known as Operation Hold the Line, the El
Paso effort called for a massive deployment of agents directly on the
border as a means of deterring wouldbe undocumented immigrants.

In the end, Operation Rio Grande deserves to be called better than
nothing. But if it is to be the basis for meaningful border control, it
will require a dynamic strategy as well as substantial increases in the
number of agents, in keeping with Congress' authorization of 1,000 new
border guards.