Arizona’s Failure of Leadership

By Karl Reiner

During the nearly forgotten Cold War, the Berlin Wall was seen as a symbol of oppression. Successive U.S. presidents often used the wall as a speech site. For years, Americans cheered when brave souls managed to cross the formidable barrier to seek freedom and safety in West Germany. The wall was an ugly part of a terrible Communist system, one that that shot people for trying to escape to a better life in the West.  In Arizona, the thinking regarding border walls has reversed itself over time.  They have become a necessity for the state.

Although they were mostly unconcerned during the years federal border controls tightened in the states to the east and west of Arizona, our astute lawmakers recently decided to have Arizona build its own wall to stem the flow of illegal border crossers. When the law becomes effective in July, residents will be able to make contributions to the project on a website. The state is presently unable to devote more funding to the effort because the legal bills arising out of the SB 1070 entanglement have to be paid.

The federal government (with long experience in Berlin) knows that border security does not come cheap. Well over a $1 billion has been spent on border technology since 2005.  It is estimated it will cost another $750 million to secure Arizona’s border, the work spread over a four year timeframe. It is unclear how the federal project and Arizona’s state-built wall will be coordinated.  We should hope that the erection of duplicate barriers along Arizona’s border can be avoided.

Arizona’s Border Security Advisory Committee is composed of house and senate members, plus the governor’s appointees. It recently met and rejected a request for help from Arizona’s businesspeople. The business group had the audacity to seek the committee’s support for increasing the staff at Arizona’s busy ports of entry. The businesspeople fear Arizona will see commercial traffic move to other states because the lack of customs officers is keeping many truck and car inspection lanes closed. By rejecting the plea, the petulant committee made it plain it cares little for Arizona’s trade with Mexico.  The committee would rather focus on the border barrier.          

The federal government is going to start an advertising campaign designed to encourage more immigrants to become American citizens, to become integrated into society. The effort hopes to reach the 7 million immigrants who are eligible to file applications to become naturalized citizens but haven’t done so.  It is part of a program approved by Congress, costing $3.5 million over three years.  It is doubtful if the effort will get support from Arizona’s leadership.

In the 4.5 years the Mexican government has been campaigning against the drug trafficking cartels, nearly 35,000 people have been killed.  The violence has escalated to the point that demonstrations against it have been held across the country. People are demanding that the government act to improve the safety of the country’s common citizens.  The demonstrators are also urging the United States to do more to stem the flow of weapons going to the drug cartels.   Since they seem to view Mexico as a hostile foreign power, Arizona lawmakers don’t appear to have any reason to tighten the controls on weapon purchases made in the state.

A corrosive culture of suspicion has taken hold in the U.S., especially in Arizona.  The country is growing brittle and less tolerant.  A nation whose prosperity was built on openness to the world now cringes in fear, clamoring to shut down its borders.  Unfortunately, it is locking out many of the eager immigrants needed to keep the American economy functioning in the future. Leaders at all levels blithely continue to ignore the fact that the nation’s workforce has to be maintained.  Someone has to pay for the retirement benefits going to the baby boomers.

Improving relations with neighboring countries, reducing prison populations and promoting the rule of law have been proven to save governments money. A respect for private property, a stable business environment, reasonable regulation and high levels of education are additional factors giving economies a good boost.

Arizona’s leadership could support private or federal programs aiming to change Mexico’s economic climate, thereby creating jobs on both sides of the border. Corruption has always been a drag on economic development, but palm-greasing to get things done is a fact of life in Mexico. Transparency International estimates endemic corruption in Mexico forced the country’s residents to pay about $2.5 billion in bribes in 2010. Showing a little support for Mexico’s reformers would not be a bad thing.       

Income inequality has been a problem in all of Latin America. It is where many of the world’s most unequal countries are located. In Mexico, the richest 20% of households account for nearly 60% of national income. The bottom 20% of Mexican households gets around 5% of the nation’s income. Mexico’s income inequality contributes to the migration problem so worrying to Arizona’s lawmakers. It also hampers economic development.  

Improving infrastructure, allowing more competition and loosening the grip of inefficient state-run monopolies would improve Mexico’s economic prospects, creating jobs and trade. Instead of ignoring the need, Arizona’s leaders could bestir themselves to promote involvement in those areas. It would be a much better investment than building the Arizona wall.