Vehicle barriers would improve border safety

Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security, was outraged this week by the killing of a Border Patrol agent west of Yuma. Frankly, we're surprised that he took so long to show such indignation.

Violence on the border, and against Border Patrol agents in particular, has been occurring for years. It shouldn't have taken the death of agent Luis Aguilar, 32, for Chertoff to show some fire in the belly concerning criminals along the border.

"This is outrageous, killing a Border Patrol agent," Chertoff said at a news conference Tuesday. "We're committed to bringing the people who did this to justice."

Aguilar, a husband and father of two, was killed Saturday in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area when he was struck by a speeding vehicle. According to reports, he was attempting to lay down a device to flatten the vehicle's tires when he was struck.

Aguilar was memorialized by fellow border agents of the Yuma Sector on Thursday. He will be buried in El Paso.

The Associated Press reported in Thursday's Star that a Mexican man has been arrested in Sonora in connection with Aguilar's death.

While Aguilar's case is tragic, it was not an isolated incident. Border agents have been assaulted for years, and the pace of those assaults has increased as more agents and equipment have been put in place along the U.S.-Mexican border.