Speech #990191481

A news reporter. Edward L. Fike. writing in the San Diego Union (May 1I. 1986). described a bizarre daily ritual at the southern California border crossing. Men. women and children mill around the streets of the Mexican border town of Tijuana. particularly its worst slum area. Colonia Libertad. until sunset. As night falls they begin moving toward ihe border for one of the strangest confrontations on this planet. an army of desperate people trying to enter the U.S. illegally and a corporals guard of border patrolmen. Customs officials. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents and policemen trying to thwart their entry. Despite valiant efforts by the protectors of our border. it is a losing proposition. Reporter Fike sums tp the situation this way: "There has never been anything like this in the history of the United States.