A Matter of Numbers

Experts say it's only a matter of time before an animal disease disaster strikes the unsecured U.S.-Mexico border

By LEO W. BANKS

For the last 10 years, John Ladd's Southern Arizona ranch has been the scene of an open-air stage play about illegal immigration. Haven't heard of it? It's quite a show, a dark farce that lays bare all the nonsense and hypocrisy that mark this ongoing domestic nightmare.

Broadway can't produce plays this affecting, and Ladd, much to his regret, has had a front-row look at the performance that never ends on his 14,000-acre San Jose Ranch, located right on the international line west of Naco.

He has seen it all: federal bureaucratic bungling, finger-pointing and waste; the political pantomime that most of Arizona's elected leaders continue to perform; and of course, the stars of the show, the illegal immigrants and drug runners who keep busting the line with relative impunity.