Groups Struggle to Clean Up Mess Illegal Immigrants Leave Behind

[sj5 4]

The latest battle in the war on illegal immigration isn't over the smuggling of undocumented workers, it's over the trash they leave behind.Government officials and border activists say the garbage dumped in the desert by illegal immigrants and their smugglers is staggering.

And the cleanup is costing taxpayers millions.

In 2006 alone, more than 1.18 million pounds of trash was collected along southern Arizona border, many in the meeting spots where immigrants rest, change clothes and wait to hitch a ride further north with a smuggler.

"You can find everything," said Shela McFarlin, special assistant for international programs at the Arizona Bureau of Land Management. "Blankets, airline tickets, Bibles, wedding pictures, photos of children, school reports, because clearly people don't tend to throw away everything they've brought with them — they're forced to."

Arizonia officials have spent approximately $4.4 million over five years to clean up the mess, that continues to build with each crossing. Nearly $1 million was spent for 2007 from a base BLM appropriation.

Border Patrol's Tucson sector, which covers most of the Arizona border, doesn't have statistics about how many people cross through each year, but on average, agents apprehend 1,500 people a day, with 378,000 undocumented immigrants caught in 2007 alone.The trash is a problem that activist groups, like the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, say will not stop until the nation's southern border is secured.

"It's just like a flood," said Chris Simcox, the president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. "You can't clean up the floodwaters until you stop the flood and fix the dam."

Successful efforts by the Border Patrol to secure well-trafficked crossing spots in San Diego and El Paso have forced many immigrants to cross through federal and state lands along the Arizona border adding to the trash problem, McFarlin said.

Since 2003, the Arizona BLM has run a project to mitigate the damage caused by the migration of illegal immigrants along the state's border with Mexico.

Click here to read the BLM's latest report on the cleanup (PDF).

"What we're beginning to wonder is how extensive is the problem?" McFarlin said. "How many millions of pounds of garbage? How many roads are really damaged? How many miles of illegal trails?"

McFarlin's agency works with local government, student volunteers and civic groups to bag trash in wilderness areas frequented by immigrants. The BLM also disguises smuggling roads by planting new vegetation over the desert tracks carved by smugglers.

"The first thing you notice if you were to drive across some of this land is you see water bottles, lots of water bottles," McFarlin said. "Where people stop to wait to be picked up — we call them 'layup' spots — then you will see more of the clothing, medicine bottles, papers, everything.

"We recently cleaned up one location with almost 4,000 backpacks left behind," she said.

Simcox said his group cleans up the private lands of ranchers who help them on their quest to monitor the border.

"We've seen it time and time again, where we go in and clean up these areas and within months they're just filled again with the same debris," Simcox said.

The Arizona BLM and the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps do not work together on cleanup efforts.

Both groups say it may take years to correct.

"Truly, it's a national disaster of our cherished outdoor areas," Simcox said.

phucking dirty bastards

Edited May 7, 2008 by SJ

[Mononoke28 137]

I heard someone broke a leg while they slipped on a banana peel that was left by a Minuteman guard.

Diana

[Chica Yeyé 41]

I heard someone broke a leg while they slipped on a banana peel that was left by a Minuteman guard.

Diana

[Ban Hammer 14,192]

not surprising. a co-worker of mine has land in arizona about a mile off the border, they have ####### left there all the time by illegals.

I heard someone broke a leg while they slipped on a banana peel that was left by a Minuteman guard.

Diana

at least they are doing something about it instead of cheerleading the lawbreakers.

[Mononoke28 137]

I'm all about cheerleading. Wish I could go there with my pom poms and cheerleading skirt right now but I don't get vacation time until the end of the year. Bummer.

Diana

[almaty 19]

aw noes, not this sh!t again

[Mononoke28 137]

[sj5 4]

but

[sj5 4]

I heard someone broke a leg while they slipped on a banana peel that was left by a Minuteman guard.

Diana

lets go there and throw some bananas peel

[HAL 9000 96]

I heard someone broke a leg while they slipped on a banana peel that was left by a Minuteman guard.

Diana

lets go there and throw some bananas peel

By the talk of it I could swear some VJ Minutemen are actually in that group.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

By the talk of it I could swear some VJ Minutemen are actually in that group.

Errrr.... what makes you think there aren't????

[HAL 9000 96]

By the talk of it I could swear some VJ Minutemen are actually in that group.

Errrr.... what makes you think there aren't????

B/C they doubtfully have WiFi or Cell WiFi access along a good part of the Border and thusly wouldn't be able to waste as much time as we do here in OT.

[Heracles 417]

First time I have seen this.

Lets see what the global warming mob type have to say about this. My guess nothing..

Edited May 7, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[HAL 9000 96]

First time I have seen this.

Lets see what the global warming mob type to say about this. My guess nothing..

Is that trash leeching industrial amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere? I though not. I guess you're right about the nothing.

[Heracles 417]

First time I have seen this.

Lets see what the global warming mob type to say about this. My guess nothing..

Is that trash leeching industrial amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere? I though not. I guess you're right about the nothing.

You must have missed the word type.

I understand though. People from certain cities cough cough are used to dumps more than others.

Edited May 7, 2008 by Boo-Yah!