Publicola

It's catch & release down on the border.

"Local authorities are catching then releasing illegal aliens despite the nation's increased terror alert status because there are too few regional U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services agents to pick them up.
While the so-called 'catch-and-release' strategy isn't a new practice for many local police departments, some of the most recent cases have been occurring despite the Department of Homeland Security boosting the nation's terrorist threat level to orange, or "high," and that has drawn criticism from immigration-reform advocates.
'Catch-and-release is actual [federal immigration] policy and refers to precisely that,' said John Keeley, director of communications for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. 'It's problematic, particularly when one such released turns out to be an infamous sniper-in-training (Lee Boyd Malvo),' he said."

& people wonder why citizens are beginning to feel the need to patrol the border themselves?

I admit I have mixed feelings: part of me reasons we should close the borders down altogether, the other part thinks we should open up all the borders & not regulate or prohibit any immigration. There are problems with both approaches to be sure & I am currently leaning more towards a secure border than an open one. Regardless, the law says aliens must go through certain procedures. those that don't are here illegally. The feds claim to enforce this law, but as we see not nearly as well as they could. Yet when private citizens try to patrol the border & in essence do the governments' job for them, they are discouraged at every oppurtunity. Even local police officers are not being given assistance when trying to enforce the law. Ain't it wondeful to see your tax money in action?

Meanwhile, a citizens patrol group called Ranch Rescue is getting sued.

"A self-styled border-watch group was accused of terrorizing six undocumented immigrants in a lawsuit aimed at bankrupting the organization and any ranchers who cooperate with it.
The suit, filed Thursday, labels the Abilene-based Ranch Rescue an illegal paramilitary unit that is motivated by racial hatred."