The name "Fifth Column" is usually given a sinister meaning, a saboteur, a secret enemy agent, etc. It was coined during the Spanish Civil War and was made in reference to military formations. A Spanish Nationalist General referred to his four columns of troops approaching a city and said that within the city there were Nationalists, therefore, a fifth column. It didn't necessarily mean that those within the city were going to assist the troops with fighting, only that they were sympathizers to their cause. Through the years the meaning has been used more or less to give a sinister connotation especially when used by news media. However, it does not have to be necessarily evil or sinister, it can simply be used to denote a "fifth element" nothing more. For this blog, that is how I am using the name "Fifth Column."
It wasn't until the mid 1980s that the presence of illegal aliens, or to use the PC term, "undocumented immigrants," became visible east of Mississippi. Prior to that, "undocumented immigrants" were only common place in border states such as California, Arizona, and Texas. In the rest of the west, along the coast and inland in agricultural areas "undocumented immigrants" would be found especially during harvest. There was a long standing Agricultural Workers Permit issued to migrant workers so it was hard to tell who was legal and who was not. Others simply disappeared in large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles and melted into existing ethnic populations.
Having lived in California through the 1970s, I was quite aware of the presence of "undocumented immigrants," both in the agricultural areas of the great Central Valley (Sacramento Valley) and urban areas such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc. It was not unusual at all to run across an individual who was working in some job without any documentation! So, I was very much aware that our border in the south was somewhat "leaky" and that Mexicans seem to be able to enter our side without much difficulty. Everyone, it seemed, was aware of the presence of "illegals" and no one really worried or cared about it one way or another. I too, hardly paid any attention. It seemed that the going rate for "Coyotes" (human smugglers) was less than a hundred dollars per head to cross the border, usually something like sixty dollars! That was back in the 1970s. Inflation has really caught up, today it is in several thousands!
I left California in the late 1970s and went to work as a Foreign Service Officer for the State Department. After an assignment in Tokyo, followed by one in Athens, I was assigned to Guayaquil, Ecuador. Before going down to Ecuador, I had to undergo Spanish language training at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington. After I finished my language training, I was going on a month or so of home leave in Arizona before heading south. But before I went to Arizona to join Jo and the kids, I was instructed to swing by San Diego and visit the U.S. Border Patrol Regional Headquarters in San Isidro (just south of San Diego) and be briefed by the Border Patrol and INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) at the border on the problem of illegal border crossings. So, I first flew out to San Diego and stopped to see INS and Border Patrol. INS gave me a briefing with charts and all sorts of numbers, informing me that the illegal border crossers numbered in the millions each year! I was not aware that the numbers were so high, and I was somewhat skeptical of those numbers during the briefing, thinking that INS was blowing up the figures to try and get more funding!
The Border Patrol first took me to see the border at Otay Mesa during daylight hours. It was rather peaceful, and I could clearly see the Mexican side from the U.S. side across a wide open expanse. There was no fence of any kind. Looking through binoculars, I could see literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of makeshift camp sites with camp fires and even music floating across the way. You could even smell the cooking when the wind blew just right. It was very peaceful. The Border Patrol told me that all those "campers" were simply waiting for dark to cross the border! They told me to return at dusk to view what really happened after dark, that the peaceful scene was going to transform into a chaotic mess! So, I went back to my hotel and waited until dusk. After eating an early meal I went back to Border Patrol Station and they took me out to the same spot as soon as it became dark.
When we approached the very same spot where we were earlier during the daylight hours, the scene was completely different. It was no longer a scene of tranquility, instead it reminded me of a scene out of a war zone, straight out of Vietnam! Helicopters were hovering overhead with searchlights pointed downward, and Border Patrol vehicles were criss-crossing the landscape trying to apprehend people running all over the place, all headed north! It was incredible, I never imagined that the illegal border crossing could have been so large, involving so many people, and this was just at one spot! I was told that it was like that all across the California border with Mexico where there were crossing points! It was nightmarish, a war zone!
The Border Patrol told me that they were very short handed and that they were lucky if they could apprehend 1/4th of the people that were crossing at night. I asked them how many they thought were getting through, and they said without hesitation that at least a million a year! Now this didn't jive with all the figures released by the government. In fact, back in those days, hardly anyone ever mentioned anything about illegal border crossers! According to the latest government figures, there were less than a million illegal residents in the United States. How could that be if according to Border Patrol figures, a million a year got through?
The Border Patrol said that the vast majority of illegals that they apprehended were Mexicans. But, there were many South Americans and Central Americans as well, and most of them would claim that they were Mexican, so that when they were deported, they were simply dumped across the border and they could try again! There were also a number of Eastern Europeans, Middle Easterners, and Asians. Border Patrol had so many people that they apprehended each night that they couldn't be bothered to categorize each crosser, so there were only two categories: Mexicans and Other Than Mexican or OTMs!
I left the border with my head literally spinning. I developed a totally different view on the illegal alien, i.e., "undocumented immigrant" issue at that point. It was obvious to me that if there was a "Fifth Column," an unseen and unknown element of people in America, it was the "undocumented immigrant" population. That was in the fall of 1983!
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