borderfirereport.net

Dear Chairman Grijalva,

As I mentioned before, I appreciated you holding the Brownsville hearing before our subcommittee last month.  Border security – or lack thereof – is an issue that has far-reaching ecological impacts, and it deserves to be addressed.

In fact, just yesterday a new media report was released that detailed the further environmental destruction on our valuable public border lands.  Here are a few of the staggering figures:

 ·  In 2006 alone, more than 1.18 million pounds of trash was collected along southern Arizona border.

 ·  Arizona officials have spent approximately $4.4 million over five years to try and mitigate the effects of the growing mess.

 ·  Nearly $1 million was spent on clean-up for 2007 from a base BLM appropriation.

 ·  One location alone had some 4,000 abandoned backpacks.

Mr. Chairman, a hearing in the border town of Brownsville is a great start – but I would request that you consider holding a second “follow-up” hearing on the public lands themselves, so we can see the smuggler’s trails and massive piles of trash and debris firsthand.  Only then will all the committee members be able to get a true feel for the choice we have between using fencing and infrastructure to increase our national security and simultaneously protect our environmental treasures, or allowing the continued yearly flow of literally hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants to trudge through the Tuscon sector alone.

I hope we can continue to work together to explore these issues, and ultimately expand our border security through fencing and infrastructure that has proven its effectiveness.  Our federal lands deserve this protection. Ultimately, both wilderness and property owners are only as secure as our weakest link.

I look forward to working with you on this.

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