Security along the U.S.-Mexico border can be a perilous thing, what with drug runners and illegal aliens sneaking into the country. Many times these incursions occur along lands managed by the National Park Service, places such as Big Bend National Park, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and Coronado National Memorial.
On Wednesday, U.S. Reps. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, Doc Hastings, R-Washington, Peter King, R-New York, and Lamar Smith, R-Texas, introduced legislation (attached) that essentially would block the NPS and Interior Department from enforcing The Wilderness Act or the Endangered Species Act along the border if those laws prevented the Border Patrol from doing its job.
The measure is short and to the point:
To prohibit the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture from taking action on public lands which impede border security on such lands, and for other purposes.
On public lands of the United States, neither the Secretary of the Interior nor the Secretary of Agriculture may impede, prohibit, or restrict activities of the Secretary of Homeland Security to achieve operational control of the Secure Fence Act of 2006.
The Republicans' actions were motivated, in part, by the killing recently of Arizona rancher Rob Krentz, whose assailant was said to have entered and exited the U.S. on federal land through the San Bernardino Wildlife Refuge
"This legislation helps ensure that DOI policies no longer enable dangerous criminals to co-opt federal border lands as their drug trafficking highways," said Rep. Bishop. "What many fail to recognize is that allowing the (U.S. Border Patrol) to apprehend and deter trains of criminal traffickers will not only remedy weaknesses in border security, but also improve the health and vitality of our protected federal lands, which have been severely damaged by years of abuse from drug and human traffickers. National Security and a healthy environment are not mutually exclusive, however with current DOI policies, neither is being accomplished.”
This week's bonus Reader Participation question: Should The Wilderness Act and Endangered Species Act be shelved in the name of border security, or can the Border Patrol accomplish its task without trampling these measures?
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Comments
I think we need a different kind of fence like that at overseas locations. 2 rows of chain link 10 feet apart topped with razor wired and the space between planted with land mines. In addition we need to allow a shoot to kill order for tresspassers carrying guns and drug packs. Kill a few and publicize the action and eventually they will get the hint to stay on their side. Once the border is secure announce another "Project Wetback". Round them all up and deport them, then fine every employer that knowingly hired them. Denounce Anchor babies and put legislation in place to grandfalther it back to 1986 and prevent liberals from twisting Amendment 14. Require E-verification & SAVE for everything including public schools. To catch the stragglers, create a crime stoppers program rewarding people for turning in the illegals by handing them 1 month's salary of what that illegal was making thru their ill-gotten job or one month of the illegal's welfare, WIC, Food Stamps and subsidized housing. Any caught here should have a criminal file created that prevents them from ever being allowed to re-enter for the rest of their life.
And as for those politicians that propose Amnesty, throw them over the fence too.
They trried a fence with those sorts of rules in Berlin. It eventually came down.
What a wonder that such compassionate comments were left here anonymously, eh?
Anon of 5/16--
What a novel idea!! Then we can put a similar fence along the Canadian border and underseas nets along the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines. Then, when we throw over these fences all the people in favor of amnesty, all the anchor babies, all illegals, all the companies that hired illegals in the past or now, all those attending schools who cannot prove their nationalities, create a multi-billlion dolllar crime stoppers program to find the rest who will go over the fence, pretty soon you will have the kind of America you want--mostly white, mostly conservative, and real Americans. Let's hope that when we throw them over the fence, they land on the land mines, huh? What a vision for the future.
Rick Smith
Mexico Builds Border Wall To Keep Out U.S. A$$holes
Wilderness designation along the Mexican border is entirely inappropriate. Natural resources can be protected without wilderness designation, and in fact designation is quite harmful to wildlife in most cases. Responsible management is preferable to the hands-off-do-nothing approach of wilderness.
That land is wilderness in name only. Human beings have been living there for 13,000+ years. The area is not "untrammeled" or "pristine". Wouldn't it be better to respect heritage than to impose an a-historical gloss that serves only to degrade natural resources? And in this case, serves to endanger the entire nation?
The area is littered with trash and rife with criminal elements; not just harmless "job seekers" but armed thugs working for drug smuggling cartels. Border Patrol officers and area residents are at extreme risk from lawbreakers who do not care one whit about wilderness and have zero wilderness values.
Only a complete fool would take his or her family camping in what is essentially a war zone. NPS employees are not safe there, either. It is time for a reality check. Parks are nice, but in this day and age border security must come first.
Mike Dubrasich said it perfectly. The only thing I can add is that Kris Eggle, a National Park Service employee, was killed by being innocently caught in the crossfire at Organ Pipe on August 9th, 2002: www [dot] kriseggle [dot] org, just a week short of his 29th birthday. American land should be safe for Americans to tread during the course of their lives, whether on private property or on federally-controlled land. First Kris Eggle, then Rob Krentz, with many others in between victims of vicious crimes. A country's borders should be sovereign, held inviolate against forces, either foreign or domestic, that would knowingly and with malice aforethought, allow such atrocities to be done to people, animals and the land.