Feds target the I-20 'border'

Far from the saguaros of the American Southwest, where the majority of thousands of illegals enter the country every month, is another "border."

It's called I-20, and it's the main smuggling artery for "coyotes" once they get their quarry over the border and into a car on the US side. A new Border patrol offensive, Operation Uniforce, is now searching for illegals deeper and deeper along the US interior, even as local law enforcement has started stepping up what some say is a legally dubious role of busting no-doc aliens on their beats (story here) and even in jails.

The AP reports:

Federal agents ran three such operations closer to the border last year: two in Baton Rouge, La., and one in Mobile, Ala. Those efforts seemed to force the smugglers north from I-10 to I-20. So this time, agents picked up and moved deeper into the interior to I-20, some 800 miles from the nearest border crossing, at Brownsville, Texas.

This kind of aggressive surveillance, I think, is more politically palatable than the workforce raids that DHS has carried out in recent years, which tend to yield lots of news photos of families being torn apart.

It's simply moving the border inland, and so far it seems to be effective.

Not sure if they'll be able to stop the most ingenious cases, however, like this one where a coyote sewed three Mexicans into a car's upholstery.

(PIX: Archaelogists work alongside crews erecting a new border fence near Sierra Vista, Ariz.)

Disney-towns expand south of I-20

Glenwood Park, that new "New Urbanist" community with skyline views just south of I-20, is expanding.

Alliance Residential developers out of Arizona are building 236 "luxury" rental units under the moniker Broadstone Glenwood in the same area, building on the NU mix of upscale units and bottom-floor retail. I call these places instatowns, since they're trying to replicate authentic town living by recreating, Disney-like, the look and feel of actual places.

What these communities don't get is that it's people that make communities, not granite counters. Still, they're not all bad. With rents as high as $1,800, Broadstone Glenwood will cater to young professionals that, if wisdom prevails, will form a sort of minor league affiliate to established neighborhoods like Kirkwood. What we don't want is that they start becoming kudzu developments that overtake more established and stable areas.

With land values quickly outpacing actual home values here in the intown, there's a real risk there. Let's hope the New Urbanists don't get too big for their britches.