It seems that the same porous-border policies that led to an increase in border jumping has also resulted in an increase in violent home invasions in the Tucson area. Why? Because of the vast quantity of illegal drugs smuggled in from Mexico, and the number of “safe houses” set up in residential neighborhoods to store the illegal goods.

Residential robberies in metro Tucson are on a record-setting pace.

Funded by the growing trafficking of Mexican marijuana, smugglers are setting up stash houses throughout the metro area. Rival drug traffickers may target those homes, looking to steal cash or pot or to recover stolen marijuana that can be sold on the street for as much as $500 a pound.

What that means, law officers said, is that more innocent people are at risk of being hurt or killed because traffickers may mistakenly break into their home.

"You have incidents when the bad guys hit the wrong house, or the target moved out a month or so ago ... that's the real danger," said Pima County sheriff's Lt. Michael G. O'Connor, head of the crimes against persons section.

Sometimes in these terrifying robberies with violence or threats of violence, also known as home invasions, the robbers hit a residence based on nothing more than a street rumor, said Eugene V. Mejia, a retired police detective sergeant who worked for TPD from 1974 to 2000.

Acting on rumors leaves plenty of opportunity for mistakes. Robbers, for example, may have the right house number but go to the wrong street.
Upping the stakes, robbers often are high on drugs during the break-ins.

How bad is the problem? While Tucson and Pima County used to get fewer than 50 such crimes reported a year 15-20 years ago, the number is now up to nearly 250. How many more go unreported by criminals who don’t want police scrutiny of their activities? And we won’t get into the deaths or serious injuries that often accompany these home invasions.

Who says we don’t need to secure the border?