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WHATEVER IT TAKES: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY, AND THE WAR ON TERROR

By J.D. Hayworth, Regnery, $27.95, 256 pages

A few weeks back, "uniformed drug traffickers" confronted Texas sheriff's deputies on the U.S.-Mexico border. Texas authorities had tried to stop three SUVs near El Paso, but the SUVs immediately fled south. The authorities gave chase, where what appeared to be the Mexican army was waiting for them. They were armed, wore uniforms and their Humvee was allegedly topped with a .50 caliber machine gun.

A bona fide Mexican standoff ensued, but no shots were fired. This time.

So ended the second such incident in the same county in the last three months. It won't likely be the last. "The border is a veritable war zone," writes Arizona congressman J.D. Hayworth in "Whatever it Takes." In the Tucson sector of the U.S.-Mexico border, "Border Patrol agents are routinely assaulted, shot at, or rammed by smuggler vehicles. It is so bad that researchers studying desert wildlife on public lands along the border must be accompanied by park personnel."

In his book, Mr. Hayworth takes a long, hard look into all aspects of illegal immigration -- and doesn't blink. Eminently readable, he has delivered the red meat for anyone who's ready to put illegal immigration on the barbecue. On a subject just made for racial demagoguery, he is refreshingly clear:

"Illegal aliens invade our country with the active encouragement of a foreign government and [illegal immigration apologists] tell us the question isn't 'how do we get them to leave,' but 'how can we make them feel welcome?' We act like a bunch of defeatist wimps unwilling to stand up for our culture, our borders, our security, or our own laws."

While it's unlikely that the left will be cribbing policy prescriptions from the pages of his book, Mr. Hayworth writes for anyone concerned about the threat posed by illegal immigration. Perhaps it's too much to ask for a six-term congressman to offer a truly nonpartisan examination of the problem, but he doesn't withhold criticism of his colleagues on the right.

"Republicans," he writes, "are scared of being branded as heartless, bigoted, or xenophobic." Later: "They'll let the American people get the shaft just so they won't feel the heat."