Foxes guarding the henhouse

Surprisingly, it seems that hiring individuals named Raul, Fidel, Luis, and Margarita may not be the wisest means of guarding the US-Mexican border:

Mr. Villarreal and a brother, Fidel, also a former Border Patrol agent, are suspected of helping to smuggle an untold number of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Brazil across the border. The brothers quit the Border Patrol two years ago and are believed to have fled to Mexico. The Villarreal investigation is among scores of corruption cases in recent years that have alarmed officials in the Homeland Security Department just as it is hiring thousands of border agents to stem the flow of illegal immigration.

Of course, given the amount of money involved, it’s not surprising that non-Hispanics can be bought too. But it sure seems like asking for trouble to hire people with direct family ties to Mexico and then giving them responsibility to keep Mexicans out. This ease of corruption is one of the many reasons I don’t favor a static border defense; immigration defense structured around social services, licensing and registration would be far more effective.