Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Immigration - "Threats and Degradation"
Information about the effects of illegal immigration is NOT being made public...
At TucsonWeekly.com, Leo W. Banks reports about some things we've been missing:
"The first, from 2002, was a threat assessment for such places as Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and the Tohono O'odham Nation.
It concluded the threat was great indeed, both from the surge of aliens and drug smugglers who are 'decimating public resources,' and from the invitation the open border offered terrorists.
The study said bad guys could easily cross into Arizona using established trails and a pre-existing labor pool of $10-a-day mules who 'do not care, or want to know, what they are smuggling.'
The second study, from 2004, looked at how the open border impacted Sonoran Desert wilderness in southwest Arizona, mainly Organ Pipe. This picture was equally grim—for the land, for endangered species and for the whole concept of border wilderness.Both studies noted that the Border Patrol policy of blocking entry around cities and border ports pushed this illegal activity into remote areas.
All of this sounds like information a good citizen would need to decide how to vote, and a good lawmaker would need to make wise policy. So why did Bush, and then Barack Obama, try to bury both studies?"
