More than one way to skin a cat..
I’m against illegal immigration. Conversely, I support legal immigration. After all, I am a product of the legal immigration process. I am convinced that this really is the elephant in the living room that no one really wants to talk about. Yeah, they just passed a bill. The President thinks its great. Whoop-de-doo. Hardly anyone else thinks it’s great. I am absolutely convinced that unless you live in Arizona (or Texas, California, or New Mexico) that there is no way you can even begin to fathom this problem. No way.
A person could devote a whole blog to illegal immigration and its effects. The thing is, statistics can be skewed to favor one point of view or another. The whole debate may be too abstract to be clearly “winnable” by any side. What we need is solid evidence. Something indisputable. I believe the evidence is there. Evidence that can not be disputed by any side. Evidence that cannot be “tut-tutted” away. Evidence that ironically, should unite hunters and anti-hunters, liberal and conservatives, ranchers and greenies. What is that you may ask? Garbage. Not just a lot of garbage. Tons. Tons of garbage destroying the desert as we speak. Disrupting delicate ecosystems. Hurting or killing livestock and endangered species alike.
This isn’t “litter”, like you often see along Arizona roads (and what’s up with that, by the way?). This is garbage. Take a bunch of landfills, and mold them into a long narrow landfill running parallel to the border.
An article in today’s AZ Central covers it reasonably well: Garbage
After three years of cleanups, the federal government has achieved no better than a 1 percent solution for the problem of trash left in southern Arizona by illegal border-crossers.
Cleanup crews from various agencies, volunteer groups and the Tohono O’odham Nation hauled about 250,000 pounds of trash from thousands of acres of federal, state and private land across southern Arizona from 2002 to 2005, says the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
But that’s only a fraction of the nearly 25 million pounds of trash thought to be out there.
…………
The trash is piling up faster than it can be cleaned up. Considering that the Border Patrol apprehended more than 577,000 illegal immigrants in 2004-05 alone, the BLM figures that those people left almost four million pounds of trash that same year.
That’s 16 times what was picked up in three years. And that doesn’t include the unknown amounts of garbage left by border-crossers who don’t get caught.
………
The trash includes water bottles, sweaters, jeans, razors, soap, medications, food, ropes, batteries, cell phones, radios, homemade weapons and human waste.
It has been found in large quantities as high as Miller Peak, towering more than 9,400 feet in the Huachuca Mountains, as well as in low desert such as Organ Pipe National Monument and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.
“In the Huachucas, you are almost wading through empty gallon water jugs,” said Steve Singkofer, the Hiking Club’s president. “There’s literally thousands of water jugs, clothes, shoes. You could send 1,000 people out there and they could each pick up a dozen water jugs, and they couldn’t get it all.”
While nobody has an exact cost estimate for removing all the garbage, it’s clearly not cheap. But McFarlin agrees with several advocacy groups that without a tightening of controls on illegal immigration, a guest-worker program or other reform of federal border policy, the trash will just keep coming regardless of what’s spent.
In 2002, the United States estimated that removing all litter from lands just in southeast Arizona - east of the Tohono Reservation - would cost about $4.5 million over five years. This count didn’t include such trash hotbeds as Ironwood Forest National Monument, the Altar Valley, Organ Pipe and Cabeza Prieta.
……….
The accumulation of disintegrating toilet paper, human feces and rotting food is a health and safety issue for residents of these areas and visitors to public lands, a new BLM report says.
“It’s particularly serious in areas where there are livestock,” said Robin Hoover, pastor of the First Christian Church in Tucson and president of Humane Borders, a group that puts water tanks in the desert for immigrants and coordinates monthly cleanups of Ironwood Monument and other sites.
“I’ve even found injectable drugs in the desert,” he said. “It’s rare when we find that kind of stuff, but there’s tons of over-the-counter medication out there. If some cow comes along and eats a bunch of pills, that would be a real sick cow.”
The trash also isn’t good for wildlife, said Arizona Game and Fish spokesman Dana Yost. Birds and mammals can get tangled up in it or eat it, causing digestive problems, Yost said.
Surely, we can all agree that this is unacceptable. Clearly, this has to indicate that there is indeed, a problem. Maybe this will enrage the “green-slanted” folks enough that they will mobilize.
Arizona Hunters Who Care run trash clean-ups every year. Volunteers are always astounded at the amount of garbage.
A great site for information and photos is Desert Invasion
A photo from a post on Coues Whitetail.com Caption reads “taken by a hunter in Unit 36A”
More
In the 1970’s and 80’s I used to hunt Mearns Quail in the Huachucas and we’d go for days without seeing another soul. It makes me sick to see this mess now! I wonder how many illegals work on Bush’s ranch in Crawford?
June 3rd, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Why is it that this topic is not in the news again? It was, two months ago. Just because there are no Protest marches going on? They don’t want to offend thier illegal
viewers? I have not heard about Protecting the borders for a few weeks. So how do I get it back on the front page? Just my little rant.
June 4th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
[...] I’m not here to report that it’s getting any better. On the contrary. Marshall over at Desert Rat, has more and recent coverage of the destruction and disgusting filth being left behind, complete with pictures. [...]
June 5th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
[...] I recently received a message from my friend Marshall over at Desert Rat. Marshall recently wrote a posts covering the severity of the issues that come along with illegal immigrants. Whether you think they should be able to come over here or not you must see the devastation they are causing to our land. I am certain we all can agree that that aspect of this needs to stop. Whether you hunt, fish, hike, bike, or are for saving the land, I am sure you would support something being done about this. [...]
June 6th, 2007 at 7:53 am
This is disturbing…
June 6th, 2007 at 9:11 am
Well folks I live in the Huachuca’s and I can tell you first hand it’s worse than the stories that appear in the liberal news media. They are involved in car-jacking, arson, theft, and of course drugs. They have cut our fences, turned on the water and let it run all night, and use the property for a bathroom. There is not a room in the house that I don’t have a gun stashed somewhere. They are getting so bold now that we had a group of 13 knock on the door at 10PM one evening. When I greeted them with my 9mm and the wife behind with with the 12 ga they all scattered like a covey of quail. Our elected officials just seem to ignore what the American people want. I firmly believe that there are high ranking Border Patrol officials, Senators and Representatives and others who are involved in our government who are getting kick-backs and bribes for looking the other way and not supporting border security. I have written both of our Senators and accused them of being pimps for the Mexican government and big business.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:42 am
Chief, today your war hero senator, McCain, said of the immigration bill before the senate now, that if he had written it, it would be different. I thought he sponsored this bill? Or will this be the Bush/Kennedy bill?
June 6th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
And what makes you think that McCain is my war hero? Although I was a registered Republican, recently switched to Independent, I have voted against McCain in every primary election he ran in, but did vote for him in the general election. I was a supporter of his recall and even sat and solicited signers for the recall. McCain is no hero of mine as I consider him a disgrace not only to the Republican Party but also to the people of Arizona.
June 7th, 2007 at 10:11 am
I really think this deserves national attention. Spread the word, the best you can.
Here’s another photo sent to me by Lance Altherr who heads up Arizona Hunters Who Care
June 7th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Hey guys we should go up in the Huachuchas and spend the night? I did it a couple of years ago while hiking the arizona trail and was greeted by a group of 25 crossing. Un-nerving to say the least. The trail / signs and water sources are trashed by them. They could care less about MILLER PEAK WILDERNESS. The strange thing is the military installation Ft. Huachuca is right there … How long is this going to continue?
June 14th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
If you don’t find this disgusting, travel inland to houses in Benson, AZ, Pahrump, NV and see what they’ve done to the houses they acquire in neighborhoods there. Not caring how they treat the land nor their neighbors is a national characteristic. You can’t train when behavior such as this is so imbedded.
June 16th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Too few people along the border to matter to politicos. Too few votes.
Won’t change anytime soon.
Enlist the Environmentalists and live with their stupidity.
June 17th, 2007 at 7:56 am
They need to take rounded up illegals and have a “clean up” !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 17th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Like many others, I’ve seen many changes to beautiful So. Az since I began hunting in the mid 60’s. We all know the trash and the problems associated with it, but it will never go away until the invasion stops. What I also feel more concerned with is our safety when we try to enjoy our wonderful state or just surviving trying to live when they invade our homes. Just two yrs ago while arch pig hunting with my son, our lives were in danger after coming face to face with three drug smugglers and twelve of there human mules. Our pistols were drawn and we were very lucky that they decided to retreat into the hills. As a father, I was not scared or afraid, I was had anger, anger that this type of human garbage is threatning our lives. Yes, trash is just one problem, and I have seen this disgusting vile and have picked up many garbage bags during hunts and while volunteering with the Hunters Who Care group which organizes two cleanup efforts each year. And I agree, it sure would be nice if somehow we could truck some of this disgusting residue to Washington. But, our lives are being threatned as well, and too me this should be our number one concern.
June 17th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
It is time the doooooogooders woke up and stop spreading so mu;ch doooooooooooo…
June 19th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
From the Washington times….
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070619-121814-2527r.htm
Illegals light border fires to sidetrack U.S. agents
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 19, 2007
U.S. Border Patrol agents seeking to secure the nation’s border in some of the country’s most pristine national forests are being targeted by illegal aliens, who are using intentionally set fires to burn agents out of observation posts and patrol routes.
The wildfires have destroyed valuable natural and cultural resources in the National Forest System and pose an ongoing threat to visitors, residents and responding firefighters, according to federal law-enforcement authorities and others.
In the Coronado National Forest in Arizona, with 60 miles of land along the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. Forest Service firefighters sent in to battle fires or clear wild-land fire areas are required to be escorted by armed law-enforcement officers.
Armed smugglers of aliens and drugs have walked through the middle of active firefighting operations, the authorities said.
The Border Patrol’s Tucson, Ariz., sector, which encompasses most of the Coronado National Forest, has the highest incidence of cross-border violators in the nation. Nearly 500,000 illegal aliens were apprehended last year — more than 30,000 a month. In addition, nearly 100,000 pounds of marijuana, with a street value of $200 million, was seized as it was hauled through the Coronado National Forest.
Last month, the Border Patrol — in a single operation targeting illegal aliens causing what Forest Service officials called “significant damage” to the Coronado National Forest — apprehended more than 300 illegals along just a three-mile section of U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and confiscated 600 pounds of marijuana in a 10-day period.
At least five fires were set below a Border Patrol observation post during the operation in an effort to burn the agents out, according to a Forest Service report. The fires were extinguished, and no one was arrested.
Wildfires are being set by alien and drug smugglers, authorities said, to create a diversion in an attempt to gain undetected access across the border. The fires correspond to a dramatic rise in assaults against Border Patrol agents — up more than 100 percent over last year.
“Criminal activity by both illegal immigrants and citizens in forests near the border is a threat to members of the public trying to use their public lands and to our employees trying to manage these lands,” Tina J. Terrell, a Forest Service supervisor told a House Appropriations subcommittee last month.
She said law-enforcement personnel have been assaulted, threatened with weapons and shot at, and their vehicles have been rammed by cross-border violators. Because of the remoteness of the area, she said, timely assistance from other law-enforcement agencies is not always possible, and communications limitations and active interference with radio frequencies in Mexico create additional safety risks.
“Even normal enforcement duties bring our officers in regular contact with cross-border violators,” she said. “Our officers risk their lives every day to enforce the law in these remote federally managed lands.”
The Coronado National Forest is not the only area along the border being targeted for wildfires. Other blazes also have been set, including two this month near the San Luis, Ariz., port of entry as the result of Molotov cocktails — one of which barely missed a Border Patrol agent.
Authorities said agents are being targeted by illegal aliens and their smugglers for rock attacks — including grapefruit-size rocks wrapped in rags, dipped in gasoline and set on fire.
“As larger areas of the border come under operational control, we can expect violence to increase as smuggling operations can no longer operate with impunity and do not have unfettered access to the border for their criminal activities,” Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar told a Homeland Security subcommittee this year.
“This explosion of aggression is an indicator how desperate and angry drug and human traffickers are at the increasing disruption of their smuggling routes,” he said.
June 19th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Just as I thought: America is well on its way to becoming a cesspool of poverty and lawlessness. These illegals, however, give new meaning to cesspool. Still, our government does nothing. It may be time to move to Canada, before these filthy people turn America into a third world country. This is supposed to be a proud people. Their ancestors gave up human sacrifice 500 years ago (because the Spanish forced them to) and look at all that garbage! Proud of what?! Clearly some cultures are superior to others. All humans are equal in the sight of God, but clearly all are definitely not as evolved as others. Get the illegals out, welcome the legals!
June 30th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
As a wildlife researcher here in arizona I can tell you we have a horrendous problem that neither party will address…and it is all about money.
In regards to the Huachuca’s I have seen illegals go right across the military installation on numerous ocassions. And, as all of you know these mountains are being destroyed day by day.
The Bush administration is a major part of the problem, and not the solution. We could use 3000 more national guard and border patrol agents down here, and some usable technology..
As all of you who know SE arizona know, a fence won’t do..much of the wildlife that we study and hunt crosses (and needs to cross) the border in the many feeder areas to keep deer, javelina, bear, lion populations viable…that’s a real issue.
I hope the law signed by the governor is a first step..but I am not encouraged by the moron in the white house or the idiots in congress..
July 3rd, 2007 at 5:15 pm
jp - thanks for your comments. It always helps to have credible information from folks who are there, on the ground. I really wish we could raise national (and state, for that matter) awareness about this problem
July 4th, 2007 at 11:19 am
[...] We have 12 million people crossing over our borders illegally, while here driving drunk and killing our own, pollute and trash our borders, and take our jobs. Law enforcement seem powerless, government and business just look the other way, yet, let a 70 year old grandma who is unable to afford to water her lawn, and they haul her off to jail! (and not in a nice way, she was cuffed, she tripped and scraped her knee leaving blood evidence). [...]
July 9th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
[...] La sorpresa me la he llevado cuando el presentador de TV contraataca presentando imágenes de las toneladas de basura que dejan los inmigrantes en la frontera. Sera verdad, será mentira, me puse a buscar fotos y he encontrado algunas de la basura que dejan los migrantes antes y durante el intento por pasar a Estados Unidos. [...]
August 1st, 2007 at 6:59 pm
I am sitting in my living room at 5 am, a long awaited trip to Southern Arizona begins today
Like many former Sailors/soldiers, I long for the isolation and lack of daily “control” by big government, but after reading theses posts I am beginning to think I may need to start my own Government to simply survive down there
I am planning on being in Tombstone area in about 7-8 says if anyone would be interested in telling this fat old Naval Aviator how life really is down there, I can’t take another North East Winter
Please send me an Email at dukesdad90@hotmail.com
Look forward to meeting anyone, American hopefully
October 11th, 2007 at 5:28 am
HEY why did you capitalize sailor and not Soldier???? I sent ya an e-mail, let me know when you get into town and maybe we can get together for a day of calling predators.
October 11th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Finally - a mention in the national news…
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354398,00.html
May 10th, 2008 at 6:49 pm