Immigration costs strain national parks

AP via Yahoo ^

[SmoothTalker]

"ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Ariz. - Drug smugglers fleeing Mexican police crossed into this desert park and fatally shot a ranger four years ago, prompting

That steel-and-concrete wall stops most cars from speeding in from Mexico. But drug and human traffickers have switched to rural entryways into Arizona.

Thousands of people now cross on foot. They leave piles of trash, build fires, damage the park's famous cacti and create countless trails through the fragile desert vegetation."

"Park workers spend most of their time backing up Border Patrol officers and dealing with border issues.

"

"But superintendents say the costs are much higher. Rangers are pulled from other duties to help patrol. Managers at Organ Pipe, for example, spend about $100,000 a year from its maintenance budget to repair the vehicle barrier and an adjoining road.

"We'd like to see the Park Service reimbursed," said Blake Selzer of the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group. "To truly address this issue, the amount of money is going to have to go up."

Homeland security, such as increased protections from illegal immigration, is a "a newly identified priority," said deputy Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett."

[SmoothTalker]

Just another example of how illegals cost taxpayers a tremendous amount of money each year.

[1066AD]

Drug smugglers fleeing Mexican police crossed into this desert park and fatally shot a ranger four years ago.

And you won't hear much about this sort of thing in MSM either.

[Grampa Dave]

We will never see the Sierra Club and other enviral organizations pointing out the damage illegal aliens have done to our rivers, lakes and other formerly great places and are still doing.

[Hornet19]

Last year Organ Pipe was ranked as the number one most dangerous of our National Parks/Monuments for tourists.

[SmoothTalker]

There has actually been a massive internal debate at the Sierra Club about this.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-03-07-sierra-club_x.htm

http://www.susps.org/history/brief.html

[EagleUSA]

Just another example of how illegals cost taxpayers a tremendous amount of money each year.

-----
Well over $100 BILLION PER YEAR. Funny how we don't hear anything about that from the Bush White House, do we?? (/sick sarcasm)

[SmoothTalker]

We hear nothing about it from them. Cheap labor might be nice for some of the elites but the rest of us end up subsidizing it.

[John Jorsett]

Drug smugglers fleeing Mexican police crossed into this desert park and fatally shot a ranger four years ago, prompting officials to build a 30-mile vehicle barrier. That steel-and-concrete wall stops most cars from speeding in from Mexico.

Let's hear again how building a fence "won't work". It may not stop everyone and everything, but it'll sure put a dent in the illegal entry traffic.

[gaspar]

It is sad, but in response to the great number of illegals crossing Organ Pipe National Monument the long long dirt road between Lukeville and the Arizona-California border is now closed. The four-wheel drive route of great scenic beauty was closed because the Feds admitted they could not protect American citizens travelling that region. If you are caught on the route an American can be arrested. What a pathetic response in the nation that was once called the land of the free and home of the brave.

[canuck_conservative]

Need
A
Fence
Thru
Arizona


.... the new NAFTA

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I have heard tell you don't want to go to Organ Pipe nor Big Bend and camp out except in truly secure camp grounds...

[SmoothTalker]

A real shame because those are supposed to be nice parks.