Last week’s cover story, “Hostile Terrain 94,” is idiotic in its assertion that “the Border Patrol has weaponized the desert, turning nature into something much more deadly than any moat or wall.” Underlying this absurd viewpoint are the beliefs that (a) anyone who wants to live in the U.S. is entitled to do so, (b) attempted or successful illegal entry into the U.S. is acceptable and encouraged, (c) the risks and hazards inherent in illegally entering the U.S. must be minimized or removed in order to protect those who attempt to enter illegally, and (d) the U.S. as a sovereign nation has no right to protect and control its borders.
The Border Patrol has not altered nature. The individuals illegally crossing the border and contending with hazardous conditions are breaking U.S. laws. Those who perish in the process of illegally entering the U.S. have brought about their own deaths.