For the record, these photographs are not staged. Here are two confirmations. The truth is out.
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/trashing-arizona/Content?oid=1168857
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354398,00.html
Read more details and statistics on the illegal immigrant waste at http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/trashing-arizona/Content?oid=1168857
[excerpt, click on the "more" link above for internal links]
UPDATE: For the whiny little trolls who think these photos are staged, go read what The Lonely Conservative dug up.
Government officials and border activists say the garbage dumped in the desert by illegal immigrants and their smugglers is staggering.
And the cleanup is costing taxpayers millions.
In 2006 alone, more than 1.18 million pounds of trash was collected along southern Arizona border, many in the meeting spots where immigrants rest, change clothes and wait to hitch a ride further north with a smuggler.
"You can find everything," said Shela McFarlin, special assistant for international programs at the Arizona Bureau of Land Management. "Blankets, airline tickets, Bibles, wedding pictures, photos of children, school reports, because clearly people don't tend to throw away everything they've brought with them they're forced to."
UPDATE II: Naturally these photos are real. They're from a staging area called a "layup" while illegal immigrants wait and change clothes for their journey to wherever they're going. The photos were posted June, 28, 2007, by the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. They are as relevant today as they were nearly 3 years ago, despite how "misguided" pResident Zero claims they may be.
Here’s a person looking at it from the perspective of cleaning up the environment:
http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/EvergreenEnergy/oakesr.html
BLM administers only 44 miles of border in Arizona However, BLM employees can no longer work in some areas along the Arizona-Mexico border due to the risks of encountering drug smugglers and large groups of illegal immigrants. In other areas, BLM employees are directed to work in pairs, carry satellite phones and take other precautions to reduce risks. This decreases work productivity. Also, visitors are discouraged to visit certain BLM lands, including recreation areas, due to the risks mentioned above.
The first 100 miles north of the Mexico border are considered the most impacted by drug smuggling and illegal immigration. This includes more than 3.7 million acres administered by BLM. BLM lands include 15 Congressionally designated Wilderness Areas, one wilderness study area, two National Conservation Areas and two National Monuments. The San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Ironwood Forest National Monument, and Sonoran Desert National Monument are considered to be the most impacted of the BLM lands. These three areas total approximately 683,000 acres. In FY2005, more than 10,300 arrests were made, 11,256 pounds of Marijuana were seized and 167 vehicles were seized on these three areas alone.
Over the past eight years in Arizona, literally hundreds of illegal roads and trails have been created across BLM lands by drug smugglers, illegal immigrants and law enforcement officers in pursuit. These roads and trails fragment wildlife habitat, destroy vegetation, compact soils, cause erosion, and in many places create an unsightly maze of roads and trails that confuse visitors. In FY2004, BLM youth groups and volunteers rehabilitated more than 30 illegal roads and trails and five ever-widening pull outs. Many more require rehabilitation.
Nearly 2,500 vehicles were seized on Federal and Tribal lands in Arizona in FY2004. Most abandoned vehicles do not run, have blown-out tires or are wrecked. They are left in washes, riparian areas and remote desert. They are difficult and costly to remove. More than 200 abandoned vehicles had to be removed from the Sonoran Desert National Monument in 2004. Seventy two vehicles were seized from this same area in 2005.
Soiled baby diapers, empty food containers and water bottles, clothes, human waste and other personal items are just a few of the things left in or near rivers, streams, washes and wildlife and livestock waters. These discards pollute the waters and cause health hazards. The 40 miles of San Pedro River managed by BLM and its tributaries are severely impacted with tons of these items. Trails, rest areas and pick up points also are strewn with heavy concentrations of litter.
Smugglers and illegal immigrants that abandon their cooking and warming fires cause thousands of acres to burn each year, thus creating risks to other immigrants in the area, employees, visitors and fire fighters and the destruction of natural resources. For example, three fires totaling more than 1,500 acres were intentionally set by illegal immigrants in the Sonoran Desert National Monument in 2005. The San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Ironwood Forest National Monument, Las Cienegas National Conservation Area and other BLM lands also have been subjected to such fires.
In FY2004, youth groups, volunteers and contractors contributed more than 5,000 hours picking up and disposing of more than 30 tons of trash left by smugglers and illegal immigrants, rehabilitating the illegal routes and pullouts mentioned above, and picking up several hundred discarded tires, building barriers, replacing wire gates with cattle guards, placing signs and planting 250 trees.