By Matthew Casey

Today’s top stories, written by Reuters reporter, Tim Gaynor, and The Economic Times, cover both human smugglers’ new tendency to sneak drugs and illegal immigrants by boat into San Diego, Calif., and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has spent $51 million over the past four years to fly detained illegal immigrants back to the interior of Mexico and discourage them from repeatedly trying to sneak into the United States.

Gaynor writes, “U.S. Coast Guard and police officers have nabbed 24 vessels packed with contraband in Pacific coastal waters off southern California since October 1 2007, more than twice the number stopped during the same period of the previous year.”

The above paragraph indicates a change in strategy by smugglers and illegal immigrants in response to a more tightly guarded land border, as well as an increase in desperation to make it to the United States.

Gaynor writes, “Aside from defying border security, authorities say the smugglers risk the lives of their passengers — many of whom are nonswimmers — whom they take miles out to sea, often in poorly equipped and badly maintained boats.

In one incident in March, a launch crammed with 14 Mexicans and a Salvadoran broke down and drifted for two days before a Coast Guard crew picked them up. Some were reported to be dehydrated and suffering sunburn.”

Back on dry land, The Economic Times reports, “In the 362 days the voluntary flights were offered during 2004-2007, the bodies of 342 illegal immigrants were discovered along Arizona’s stretch of the U.S-Mexico border _ nearly one per day, southern Arizona medical examiners’ records show.

The yearly totals recorded by the U.S. Border Patrol show that the number of border deaths each year since the program started in 2004 has been higher than in any of the previous years.

Taking just the number of bodies handled by the Pima County medical examiner, and comparing 2001-2003, before the repatriation program started, the number of bodies found hasn’t decreased.”

Though ICE’s humanitarian intentions may be in the right place, both articles once again show that while our government takes steps to “secure the border,” those desperate for better wages and more opportunities for their children continue to take increasingly dangerous risks to try and make a new life in the United States. Surrounded by the prospect of death, they push forward, constantly searching for new ways to our-manuever federal authorities.

So what if instead of investing $51million to fly deportees home, we instead used that money to fight corruption and crime within Mexico’s federal government? Maybe the quality of life in Mexico would eventually improve enough to convince people to stay home.

Or, what if we instead used the $51 million to put more Border Patrol agents on horseback, thus allowing them to reach more remote areas of the border where many immigrants die? Unlike ICE’s “fly them home” program, maybe those new agents could actually have an impact on the number of immigrant deaths in the desert.

Granted, these suggestions are long term investments. But if we have learned anything in our quest to handle illegal immigration so far, it is that there is no “quick-fix” to this problem.