Arizona ranchers urge crackdown on border violence

Ranchers fed up with border violence in southern Arizona are demanding action to close the border and restore order in what they called a lawless area ruled by criminals. A ranching group delivered a plan at an event at the Capitol for confronting drug and human smuggling, extortion and kidnapping and eliminating the murders that go with them. Their demands come in the wake of the slaying of Robert Krentz, 58, on his ranch near Douglas last month. But ranchers say the problem has been festering for years. "Southern Arizona is a war zone controlled by outside criminal forces," said Patrick Bray of the Arizona Cattlemen's Association. The organization's 18-point plan for attacking crime along the border asks local, state and federal agencies for assistance. Members said they don't care which side of the political aisle it comes from. Ideas include prosecuting as a felon anyone coming into the U.S. illegally, banning them from ever working or living in the country, authorizing the use of force to intercept vehicles and aircraft entering the country illegally, putting active military and National Guard units along the border, and adding more than 3,000 Border Patrol agents in Arizona by 2011...more