Steve Campbell

At 2 a.m., in the wee hours of the morning, a Mexican family huddles together, waiting for the perfect moment when they can illegally cross into the land of opportunity in search of a better life.

Just on the other side of the border awaits a U.S. civilian, carrying his privately owned weapon, waiting for the opportunity to prevent illegal immigrants from "invading his country."

Who's right and who's wrong · and who's to decide?

At a time when persons who illegally enter into our country could threaten our national security, not enough is being done to prevent such an act from occurring. And what is being done is the wrong answer.

Untrained civilians who think that it's their duty to guard our borders are only putting their lives, as well as others,' at risk. The few people that they may prevent from crossing the border will find another place to cross. Here's one word of advice for those who want to "do their duty" by protecting our borders: go to your local U.S. Border Patrol office and pick up a job application. Believe me, there are plenty of openings.

These self-appointed border guards will not deter anybody from entering our country illegally. The potential reward far outweighs the risk for these immigrants.

So if having civilian border patrols isn't the answer, then what is?

Several legislators from the U.S. House of Representatives have proposed a bill that would allow the military to guard our nation's borders. The proposed bill, HM 2001, states that Congressional action "· to expand the scope of the Posse Comitatus Act to allow greater military involvement in the patrolling of United States borders would give states much-needed assistance in preventing the entry of illegal immigrants and in fighting terrorism, drug smuggling and crime problems."

This, also, is clearly not the answer. Forget the fact that the whole purpose behind enacting the Posse Comitatus Act was to prevent the military from acting in a law enforcement capacity. Even if that "minor" detail could be overlooked, can anybody tell me where we plan on getting the additional soldiers needed to perform this task? The military simply doesn't have the manpower and, unless the government intends to bring back the draft, the probability that enough people will enlist for active duty, the National Guard, or the Army Reserve to guard both of our borders is highly unlikely.

The military is currently preparing to fight a two-front war: one currently being fought in Afghanistan and the other soon to take place in Iraq. And there's another one (North Korea) on the horizon. Having the military patrol our borders is simply not possible.

Ten years ago, when the Army alone numbered greater than 800,000, and we weren't at war, such a plan would have been conceivable. Under the Clinton administration, however, the Army was downsized to just over 400,000, and now such a plan cannot even be considered.

So, if these legislators are so willing to spend millions of federal dollars to put our understaffed military along the border, why don't they just take that money and use it to hire and fund a much larger U.S. Border Patrol force? Not only will this create more jobs (especially in Arizona), but it will also keep our military doing what it does best ÷ protecting our interests abroad.