(Los Angeles, California) A 34-year-old Mexican, Julio Cesar Mata-Sosa, pleaded not guilty yesterday in federal court to a charge that he is in the U.S. illegally. Since Mata-Sosa had already been deported seven times, it's not clear how he contends that he's not illegal this time.

A joint federal, state and local sweep identified Mata-Sosa along with others. Called "Operation Winter Warning," officials screened foreign-born inmates at Southern California jails and state prisons to identify the previously deported with ties to violent street gangs.

While standing in a U.S. courtroom, another formerly-deported illegal alien, Ascencion Hernandez-Perez, 38, also pleaded not guilty to standing in the United States.

Since illegal aliens are regularly being deported, returning and then pleading not guilty to being in the U.S. illegally, it's obvious that they don't even recognize that there is a border. If the Mexicans don't recognize the existence of a border, it's not clear how Washington can continually assert there is.