Dear HCN,
Having lived in a remote
area of Cochise County, eight miles from the Mexican border, I
found Susan Zakin’s article, “The Hunters and the Hunted,” to be an
accurate and well-balanced examination of a very serious problem
(HCN, 10/9/00: The hunters and the hunted: The Arizona-Mexico
border turns into the 21st century frontier). It is one of the best
articles on the subject I have read from any source. However, for
all of Roger Barnett’s outrage, he fails to mention that Barnett’s
Towing has a contract with the federal and local governments to
auction all of the vehicles confiscated from illegal aliens. This
includes even lawfully owned vehicles whose owners don’t have the
proper paperwork to prove ownership. Rarely, if ever, are the
owners allowed to re-cross the border to claim their vehicles and
most couldn’t afford Barnett’s daily storage charges even if they
were allowed to return to reclaim their property. This is a
considerable number of vehicles, which makes Mr. Barnett’s company
a considerable amount of money. Mr. Barnett is not the only one who
benefits from these seizures. Federal and local law enforcement
officers are frequent bidders at these auctions, where vehicles are
sold for dimes on the dollar.
Nicholas
S. Hentoff
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Vigilante and the law profit at the border.
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