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The Grand Canyon, as viewed from Mohave Point. NPS photo.
Are you rethinking that trip to the Grand Canyon or Saguaro National Park due to the approach Arizona officials are taking towards illegal immigration?
Arizona's move to require police to check anyone's U.S. residency status if it might be in doubt is drawing quite a bit of criticism. Already there's some evidence that folks from outside Arizona who oppose the law are canceling trips to the Grand Canyon State.
Are you?
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Comments
Justin-
It is your prerogative to determine whether my anecdotal evidence is valid or not. However, the sign on the national forest does convey that my fear is not unwarranted. Coming across any illegal activity can get you into trouble. Not so much by the illegal immigrants but the drug smugglers and coyotes that traffic in these regions. If you are from AZ, you will read the papers about how violence between drug/coyote smugglers, including kidnappings and torture occurs within Phoenix. This has spread onto innocent bystanders mistakenly recognized as their human bounty.
Are you aware that just across the border US citizens have been killed, including school teachers and federal employees? Do you think that the dangerous Mexican drug cartels that are plaguing its own government have any qualms about killing anyone over here? Are you aware that the drug cartel regularly puts out bounties on members of the Border Patrol and those caught narcing on them on our soil? The rancher that was murdered happened across "something he shouldn't have seen". Do you think I want to be caught in the same situation? I don't hike where the myriads of visitors hike. I hike in the back-country areas. They are no longer safe.
More anecdotal evidence: I was saved from a very bad excursion through the backroads of the Estrella Mtns near Phoenix by migrant workers about twenty years ago. I developed a great respect for Mexicans. They are very personable and hard-working people. But my experiences with recent immigrants have not been so pleasant. I have been harassed on the public transit system and actually followed home by some. Very scary. As I've walked down the street near my neighborhood, I have been accosted by many drivers that appear to be recent immigrants not aware that this is considered harassment in our society. My experiences may be anecdotal, but they are my own and I am conveying the frustrations that are leading to recent anti-immigrant sentiment and fear. It is my opinion that the most recent immigrants have more of a sense of entitlement, more aggressive, and less willingness to assimilate to our culture. Admittedly, my experiences may be "outliers" that have led to my current impressions.
Maybe you'll think I'm racist. That is fine. You haven't walked in my shoes or experienced what I have. I was punished if I said anything racist when I was young and I find it detestable. My observations are based on my own experience. I still give individuals the benefit of the doubt and treat them with respect.
Lisa
Thanks, Lisa. I think you've importantly parsed what seems to have been otherwise blurred above: "Not so much by the illegal immigrants but the drug smugglers and coyotes that traffic in these regions."
Justin
Kurt-
Rincon and Saguaro are well above the areas you have to be concerned about. They are both adjacent to a major metropolitan area...Tucson. The areas I'm concerned about are adjacent to the border. The Chiricahuas are in such a remote area, jaguars have been spotted in the park. You should also be aware that there is still an unsolved murder of a park ranger in 1980.
As reported by the National Geographic in 2003, Arizona's Organ Pipe National Monument was the most dangerous in the country. It also attested to the cross-cut trails created by illegal activity and the trashing of the desert with strewn clothing and water bottles. As they reported:
"Rangers say it was only a matter of time before tragedy struck in one of the five national parks and monuments along the U.S.-Mexican border, where shoot-outs occur with alarming frequency."
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/01/0110_030113_organpipecly...
Thank you,
Lisa
Kurt-
My sincerest thanks to you for being an honest broker moderator! :-)
Happy hiking...it was a beautiful season, but I too ran across a whopper rattlesnake this spring that scared the bajeebas out of me.
Justin -
The illegal immigration fuels the horrific activity of the drug smugglers and coyotes that prey on both the immigrants as well as Americans that get in their way. Of course I won't let American illicit drug users or employers of illegal labor off the hook either. But the coyotes and drug smugglers are the scum of the earth.
Lisa
Lisa--
I assume you are talking about Paul Fugate when you mention an unsolved murder in Chiricahua NM. To my knowledge, neither the Cochise County Sheriff not the National Park Service definitivley concluded the Paul was the victim of a crime. See the Traveler story, "Where in the world is Paul Fugate", published in March of 2009.
Rick
Rick,
Wow! That's cool. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I always wondered about that and I'll look into it.
However, the fact that National Park Rangers have a more dangerous job than FBI agents and that National Parks along the Mexican border are the most dangerous still stands.
Lisa
I've got no argument that drug smugglers should somehow be protected. However - they're still going to do it if the profit motive is there. If they're smuggling drugs on a regular basis, getting deported is hardly going to be a deterrent. If they're simply picked up for immigration violations, they'll be right back in Mexico where they'll hook up with their employers and do it over again. What good is deportation for someone who by definition is illegally crossing the border repeatedly. The drug and human smuggling is going to happen. If there are increased rates of deportation, I would guess that it might even increase the rate of human trafficking as people try to get back into the US.
Human smuggling to the US frankly isn't just a concern only along the Mexico-US border. There are the infamous "Snakehead" criminal organizations, who bring in migrants (primarily from Fujian province) in China to the US in cargo ships. There was the infamous ship Golden Venture that ran aground in Queens, NY with several passengers drowning trying to flee to the shore and escape capture. A similar operation was detailed in the movie Lethal Weapon 4, with a group of illegal migrants found in a modular ship cargo container in the Port of Los Angeles. Illegal immigration is a huge deal in New York City's Chinatown as well as Chinese communities around the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Venture
y_p_w, I don't understand your point.
Back to the original point, I'm disheartened that I probably won't get to see the beautiful mountain islands in southern Arizona again. It is beautiful...like a grassy savanna with mesquites and cottonwoods dotting the hills and high mountains in the distance. ***SIGH****