Illegal immigrants leave tons of trash in Arizona desert, devastating environment

In her response letter, Napolitano enclosed a report from a congressional inquiry which confirmed, “Overall, the removal of cross-border violators from public lands is a value to the environment as well as to the mission of the land managers.”

The New Mexico border has also suffered pollution because of illegal immigration, but not as much as Arizona border. “We undoubtedly have experienced a lot of litter, but not the extent of Arizona,” Eddie Guerrero, international border coordinator for the New Mexico BLM, told TheDC. “Arizona has large cities in proximity to the border, which makes passage logistically easier. In New Mexico it is harder to blend in because the closest city is in El Paso, Texas.”

In 2009, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn introduced an amendment to relax border patrol restrictions in wilderness areas. However, it was rejected in conference. “The government’s policy is 180 degrees in opposition to common sense and the situation on the ground,” Coburn’s communications director, John Hart, told TheDC. “The government’s effort to protect the environment is causing environmental destruction. The policy of not allowing the Border Patrol to patrol wilderness areas has allowed drug cartel members and illegal immigrants to trash the environment we are wanting to protect.”

Bishop said that the litter is just a part of the problem. He said fundamentally, allowing the illegal border crossings to continue is simply inhumane. “If you like illegal drugs, if you like prostitution rings, if you like women being raped, then just sit back and say everything is fine and don’t do anything about it. But we need to stop it, in the name of humanity, we need to stop it,” he said.

Indeed, not only have wilderness areas helped cause an increase in pollution, they have also potentially contributed to increased danger on the border. In Arizona on March 27, an illegal alien murdered Robert Krentz, an incident which, at the time, received a great deal of media attention. What received less coverage was the fact that federal agents later confirmed that the criminal entered and exited the country through the Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, a protected wilderness area.

In 2007 Krentz’s wife, Sue Krentz, wrote Congress about her fear of these hardly monitored areas: “The US Constitution clearly requires the federal government to protect states. Passing the buck, making it a WILDERNESS AREA, a forest, or private land Congress and the President are supposed to be protecting our borders from invasion not encouraging it…We are in fear for our lives and safety and health of ourselves and that of our families and friends. Please defend the law!”

In April of this year, Bishop introduced a bill — “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” (H.R. 5016) — which would allow agents to patrol protected land. The bill remains pending in committee.

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Arizona sheriff on the immigration law