Posted on 06/18/2004 6:56:21 AM PDT by South40
WASHINGTON – An unrelenting flow of illegal immigrants is taking its toll on the Mexico-Arizona border, according to testimony before a Senate committee that told of thousands of abandoned vehicles, tons of trash, significant damage to an Indian reservation, and of a wildlife refuge marred with an ugly web of illegal pathways and roads.
The illicit traffic of immigrants and drugs is "causing a flood of crime, chaos and environmental destruction on our reservation," Ned Norris Jr., vice chairman of the Tohono O'odham Nation, testified yesterday. The reservation shares a 75-mile border with Mexico.
Border Patrol clampdowns in urbanized border regions from San Diego to Texas have pushed illegal traffic toward the reservation, which has become the busiest corridor for illegal traffic along the 1,950-mile U.S.-Mexico border.
Norris said the reservation's portion of the border has flimsy fortification: a three-strand barbed wire fence.
"And that's where the fence is up," he said. He added that in many places the fence has been ripped down by smugglers who drive vehicles loaded with immigrants or drugs into the United States.
Since the beginning of 2003, Norris said, 2,675 vehicles have been abandoned on reservation lands by smugglers who routinely steal trucks and cars in Phoenix and Tucson, drive them into Mexico and load them with drugs or immigrants for the return trip.
Immigrants crossing Indian lands by foot are littering it with 6 tons of trash per day, he said.
Also testifying to the Senate Commerce Committee was Roger Di Rosa, manager of the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona.
Di Rosa described a "spider web" of trails and roads that "damages and destroys cactus and other sensitive vegetation, disrupts revegetation efforts, disturbs wildlife and their habitat, and causes soil compaction and erosion."
He provided a moment of comic relief in an otherwise grim recitation when he said Cabeza Prieta's border was "in a little better shape" than the reservation's.
"We have a four-strand fence," he deadpanned.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., described the disorder at the border as "totally unacceptable."
"I'm shocked by what I've heard," said Nelson.
Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., convened the hearing as part of his effort to win passage of legislation that would boost border enforcement with an array of high-tech tools, including unmanned aircraft.
"It's technology that's going to give us the capabilities that we need, particularly in areas where there are long borders which are simply not enforceable" without high-tech monitoring systems, he said.
But McCain also used the forum to make a pitch for immigration reform that would provide legal status for most of the estimated 7 million immigrants working illegally in the United States. He also wants to establish a guest-worker program to fill jobs that employers are unable to fill with U.S. citizens.
McCain sought support from Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security at the Department of Homeland Security. Hutchinson oversees the Border Patrol, which in March announced that it was beefing up its presence on the Arizona border.
McCain said that without a program to match immigrant workers with jobs, the press of immigrants across the border will continue even if "we tighten it down all the way from Texas to San Diego."
After the hearing, McCain said he saw no chance for immigration reform legislation in this election year.
"There's no courage to address the issue," he said, acknowledging the controversy it stirs.
As well as the rest of our nation.
if my kids would have left this mess they would be knocking at my door right now. Just another exmple of citizenn having to follow the rules while everybody else does not.
Can't you just dream of a Mexican ran government in the lower 50. Sewage in the streets, cholera, trash everywhere. We can get rid of the FDA, because the carts need to do business.
Illegal border crossers leave .... on land
&%^#$* !!
FYI
My understanding was that Native Americans retain some degree of sovereignty over their reservations. While it is not a solution to the whole problem, perhaps they could legally fight the good fight on their piece of the border.
WHY DIDN'T WE THINK OF THIS !!!!!!
We can stop the flood of illegal immigrants by inciting the Tree Huggers to "Protect Our Deserts" !!!!
ILLEGAL aliens = Democratic Party votes.
Tree huggers = Democratic Party votes.
They're on the same side of the fence, so to speak.
And, just as every Democrat is a hypocrite, so are those who complain about environmental issues yet turn a blind eye to what is happening in the Southwest.
Thank you president Fox !
The more is looks like Mexico, the more they'll want to come here.
I was in a store yesterday, when a young Border Patrolman came in, I went over to him, and thanked him for what he does, he looked surprised, then he said, "we don't hear that often, in fact this is the first time."
Been there, tried that. It don't work...they'd rather sue the Army for excessive water use than stop the dumping.
As a matter of fact, a small faction within the environmental coalitions (I think it started within the Sierra Club) tried to get an anti-illegal immigration plank in their platform. This group was ostracized by the leadership.
Open Borders won out over good stewardship of the land.
Finally! An issue that ALF and ELF can sink their (canine)teeth into. "We'll get those wascally wetbacks." LOL
Post #6...welcome to my back yard...ok, that's figuratively speaking. It doesn't look like this anywhere within 5 miles of my back yard. Beyond that...well...there it is.
Don't forget to thank Bush for doing nothing.
I have been wondering why the enviro-nazi crowd has been basically quiet about this issue. In a time when every construction project of any sort has to have an environmental impact study at substantial cost just to be able to start the project, these law-breaking invaders are doing massive measurable damage to the environment and we hear nothing....
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