Posted on 11/29/2002 5:36:44 AM PST by dennisw
| 11/27/02 Immigrants Leaving Mounds of Trash on Tohono O'Odham Indian Sacred Lands By Paul Cicala The Tohono O'Odham Nation faces an environmental crisis. Every day, nearly 1,500 undocumented immigrants pass through the U.S.'s second largest indian reservation, leaving thousands of pounds of trash on tribal lands. News 13 recently got a first-hand look at some of the areas on the reservation that appear more like a trash dump than sacred lands. Piles of trash grow to mounds of trash on the Tohono O'Odham lands. In the process of searching for the American dream, some immigrants are trashing Arizona. Henry A. Ramon, Vice Chairman for the Tohono O'Odham Nation, says, "Mother Earth is something very sacred, and here we see trash all over it." Some sacred areas on the Tohono O'Odham Indian reservation larger than the size of a football field are littered with thousands of pounds of trash left behind by illegal border crossers. Gerry Carrasco, a U.S. Border Patrol Agent in the Tucson Sector says, "This trash that they leave. This stuff isn't gonna go away any time soon. Who cleans it up?" Ramon says, "It's the responsibility of the federal government." Ramon says his people shouldn't be left with the burden of dealing with the mounds of trash. The Tohono O'Odham Nation shares a 71-mile-border with Mexico. Ramon says it's a federal border so it's also a problem of the federal government. "With the amount of immigrants crossing our land every day, we just can't handle it. We just don't have the manpower," says Ramon. The Tohono O'Odham Nation is the second largest reservation in the country, with a population of 22,000. Nearly 2,000 tribal members live south of the border. Border crossers enter the reservation from Mexico on foot, and form makeshift camps near major pickup points for coyotes, or undocumented immigrant smugglers. Carrasco adds, "They get to here (a spot about 30 miles north of the Sonora/Arizona border), and basically from here is where they're gonna load up. So, they don't need the extra clothes and water jugs. They leave trash here, because there's no where to put it as they get loaded up." Ramon says, "It's a sore eye to go down the road and see all this trash." Tohono O'Odham officials estimate each undocumented immigrant leaves behind more than 8 pounds of litter. With nearly 1,500 crossing tribal lands every day, that amounts to 13,000 thousand pounds a day, and almost 5 million pounds a year. Tribal leaders are asking the federal, state and county governments to get involved. However, Ramon says it's an uphill battle. "We do try to clean what we can, but, still we're overwhelmed," says Ramon. If there's no solution soon, Ramon fears the "Mother Earth" that he and other tribal leaders worked so hard to preserve for future generations could all be thrown away. O'Odham officials say, at this time, they still haven't received any indication that the federal, state and county government will help economically, or by providing manpower to clean the trash up. Thousands of O'Odham tribal members also live in Mexico on native lands south of the border. Mexican officials say those areas are also being trashed by border crossers.
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Ooooooooooooh! (Hands wringing in Mr. Burns-style glee) This would be cooooool! Who's side would the media take? Who would the government defend? This would be like Hulk Hogan vs. The rock in last year's Wrestlemaina!!! Two "good guys"--who would we root for?
(intro Mariachi music) "In this corner wearing the traditional Lucha Libre mask...acheiving the American dream...gladly doing the work us lazy Americans no longer want to do...taking back their rightful land of Aztlan, one inch at a time...The MEXICANS!!! (cheers from the crowd mixed with random cries of "Aribia La Raza!")
(intro powwow/rain dance music) In this corner...dressed in feathers and ceremonial garb...they've been used, abused, dumped on and pushed around...but no more!!! They're fightin' mad and seein' red...They're the Indians! I mean, The NATIVE AMERICANS!!! (cheers mixed with random tomahawk chops and woo woo woos)
During the match, W would distract the officials (special guest ref Pedro Morales) with bags of money provided by Saudi Arabia, and Vincente the Fox would hit the Indian over the head with a Mariachi guitar and the match would be over...Uno...Dos...Tres!!!
LINE THE BORDERS WITH NUCLEAR WASTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, there is something to be said for, shall we say 'having what it takes' and also there is something to be said for doing what is right for your country - even if it means paying a little more to get that stump dug out - working a little longer and a little harder to do it yourself - or planting ivy on it.
Sorry hiring illegals is not a good thing - and there is no amount of perfume you can spray on it to keep it from stinking.
I also can agree that many illegals (and legals) are good people ---but not all are and around here there seems to be more (of both) living in government housing and cashing in on free health care at the county hospital than there are working in farm work. We wouldn't necessarily have to get rid of all the illegals ---if we actually need some ---I'm not sure but possibly farm workers ---we can make a temporary guest worker program where they're background-checked and limited to certain jobs. We don't need any that are committing Social Security and other document fraud and we don't need the ones on welfare, we don't need the drug runners either or the other criminals. What we see a lot of here are pregnant --often unmarried women from Mexico coming here to have babies that weren't even conceived here but will end up on welfare here and with family reunification are used to bring in all kinds of non working types. The elderly moving in to get on SSI and Medicaid are also a major problem, they also don't come to work hard for anything.
That's a bit extreme.
Our quality of life isn't ruined. Our economic well-being is far from being destroyed. Our medical problems relate mainly to our system of litigation. Our schools are screwed up mainly because they are controlled by the teachers' unions.
Illegal immigrants do cause us some problems. More than a few. I know about that.
But they also bring with them some good things.
The fact of the matter is that this is an issue we need to deal with in a realistic way, and we are not doing that now.
This nation was built on immigrants. All of us -- every one -- is descended from an immigrant. The notion of "legal" and "illegal" is relatively recent. The inscription on the Statue of Liberty is no joke.
As a purely practical matter, the Republican party *must* find ways to mend its fences with minority groups of every type. This is not an option. It has to be done.
If it is not done, there will be no Republican party in a few more years.
We are currently patting ourselves on our collective backs for the outcome of the last election. But, if you look at the demographics, our joy will be very short-lived unless we start reaching out more. Mining the borders is not the way to do that.
It is more than that, however. Much more.
It is the morally correct thing to do.
This party was founded on giving people opportunity, not on taking it away. Everybody. White, black, brown, yellow, whatever. We are all together in this.
I expect people to obey the laws and I expect the laws to be reasonable, but I don't fault anyone for trying to come here.
If you want to make the Republican party obsolete, just keep bashing immigrants and minorities. That will work.
You're kidding, right? Tell that to the employees at the jails and prisons in areas where there are high concentrations of illegal aliens. They've gotten so bold down here that they deal their drugs in broad daylight and don't care who sees them!
Tell that to people who have had to flee once-decent neighborhoods because they got tired of being sleep-deprived from the loud accordian-polka music blasting from cars in the middle of the night as illegals stood around it and drank beer and leaving their trash all over the place.
I could go on, but I won't.
I understand there are problems here.
I want the moral high-ground. I think we all do, and I think we can get it. We have a chance here.
Add that to the fact the EPA considered the estuary "sewage-based", and therefore we would be "altering/changing an endangered species habitat", ignoring the fact that the tern's eggs (the protected species within that habitat) were being eaten for breakfast by the invading aliens..
Ironic, ain't it? No one really raised the issue of the impact of immigration upon the environment for quite some time. Now, with the fence in place, everyone is concerned about the "needless deaths" further East where the wall ends.
Pookie & ME
You must have mis-read that. It was considered to be an endangered feces habitat.
...and he goes by the name, "The Other Harry".
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