Thread: Violence prompts strong warning at Ariz. monument

Five Federal Lands in Arizona Have Travel Warnings in Place

By Joshua Rhett Miller

Published June 18, 2010

Comments (149)

Imagine the federal government closing a section of the Lincoln Memorial because it was under the control of Mexican drug lords and bands of illegal immigrants.

That scenario is playing out as reality in southern Arizona, where parts of five federal lands -- including two designated national monuments -- continue to post travel warnings or be outright closed to Americans who own the land because of the dangers of "human and drug trafficking" along the Mexican border.

Roughly 3,500 acres of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge -- about 3 percent of the 118,000-acre park -- have been closed since Oct. 6, 2006, when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials acknowledged a marked increase in violence along a tract of land that extends north from the border for roughly three-quarters of a mile. Federal officials say they have no plans to reopen the area.

Elsewhere, at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, which shares a 32-mile stretch of the border with Mexico, visitors are warned on a federally-run website that some areas are not accessible by anyone.

"Due to our proximity to the International Boundary with Mexico, some areas near the border are closed for construction and visitor safety concerns," the website reads.

On another page titled "Border Concerns," the website warns that visitors should be aware that "drug smuggling routes" pass through the park.

"If you see any activity which looks illegal, suspicious, or out of place, please do not intervene," the website reads. "Note your location. Call 911 or report it to a ranger as quickly as possible. Each year hundreds of people travel north through the park seeking to enter the United States."

Visitors are also warned to be mindful of illegal immigrants within Ironwood Forest National Monument, a 129,000-acre federal parkland in the Sonoran Desert.

"All suspected illegal activities should be reported to [the Bureau of Land Management] or local law enforcement authorities," Ironwood Forest's website reads. "Visitors should stay safe by avoiding contact with persons exhibiting suspicious behavior or engaged in dangerous activities. Drive with caution and look for fast-moving vehicles and pedestrians on back roads."

Dennis Godfrey, a spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management's Arizona office, said roughly a dozen signs were posted earlier this month along the Sonoran Desert National Monument advising that travel in the area is not recommended due to "active drug and human" smuggling. The signs are not far from where a Pinal County deputy was shot and killed during a confrontation with marijuana smugglers in April and the fatal shooting of two men suspected to be drug smugglers.

"It is a corridor for smugglers of all types," Godfrey told FoxNews.com.

Similar signs have been posted at the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and the Coronado National Forest, which covers nearly 1.8 million acres in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.

Estimates of exactly how many acres of federal land are closed due to safety concerns near the border were not immediately available, but at least one lawmaker told FoxNews.com that the policy of "ceding" federal land to drug and human trafficking is unacceptable.

"This is one of those things that the Department of Interior does not want to publicize," said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, ranking Republican on the House Parks and Public Lands Subcommittee. "These bad actors are now being channeled into federal lands along the border because it's so easy to make that access. The situation is getting worse on federal lands and will only get worse until we make some proactive activity to change the status quo."

"Frankly," Bishop continued, "the status quo is failing. We are failing to control our borders."

Bishop, who has introduced legislation that would remove environmental restrictions the Department of Interior imposes on U.S. Border Patrol agents, questioned the message sent by federal authorities by closing off part of the Buenos Aires Refuge.

"That is a ludicrous message," he said. "That policy in unacceptable. That strikes of running a policy of appeasement to drug cartels instead of fighting back. Someone has to say that not one inch of American property will be given to the bad guys and not one death is acceptable."

www.foxnews.com

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-5372--0-0.html

Originally Posted by justme

We all knew this was going to happen. The question is will someone make them take the signs down because HLS thinks there is no crime on AZ.

THEY KNOW THERE IS CRIME FROM THESE ILLEGALS IN ARIZONA AND OTHER STATES AS WELL. THEY ARE DOING NOTHING BUT LYING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, AND THEY ARE DUMB ENOUGH TO THINK WE BELIEVE THEM

This is the sign at the entrance to Ironwood Nat Park. About a 10 min drive west of I-10 and 70 miles north of the border. It replaced a several years older sign that had been shot all to hades. Those are 20mm holes blown through two layers of 1/8" aluminum with a bullet resistant composite core. Standing at this sign you can turn around and see the tails of the mothballed 747's at Pinal Air Park. PAP is home to an Army NG heli trainning facility and "other" operations. Federal enforcement is a bad joke out here.

Obama and this administration do not believe we have a problem with illegal immigration. Rather, they believe the problem lies with our laws against illegal immigration, specifically, the fact we even have laws against illegal immigration to begin with. His actions and those that work for him only make sense when viewed against this philosophy.

His solution is to simply not enforce immigration law and to ram forward efforts to make those who entered this country in violation of our immigration laws legal citizens. This is what he's going to do and he does not care what those who oppose him think.

So this is what we are dealing with. November cannot come soon enough. It may be the last shot we have at saving this country from the destructive forces of this administration.

I keep thinking back to 5 years ago, when the House of Reputables passed HR-4437, which would have made illegal immigration a felony, mandated use of E-Verify, and (ideally) mandated that 700 miles of border fencing be built right away. This could have prevented or blunted all of the drug-running nonsense that's going on right now. But the Senate pretty much squelched this idea with their own proposed bill, which included Amnesty.

THE FEDS WOULD NEVER ALLOW U.S. CITIZENS THE FREEDOM TO USE THESE PUBLIC PARKS FOR SUCH ILLEGAL DEALINGS, BUT THOSE FROM MEXICO CAN COME HERE AND GET AWAY WITH ANYTHING THEY WANT TO DO. THEY ARE JUST HANDING THIS LAND OVER TO THEM ON A SILVER PLATTER AND IT MAKES ME THINK THAT OUR GOVERNMENT IS GETTING A CUT OF THIS ILLEGAL DRUG MONEY THEY WOULD LOCK AMERICAN CITIZENS UP SO FAST IT WOULD MAKE YOUR HEAD SPIN, BUT THEY ARE CLEARING THE WAY FOR MEXICANS TO DO WHAT EVER THE HELL THEY WANT TO DO. THIS GOVERNMENT IS REALLY MAKING THIS COUNTRY OUT TO BE A JOKE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD AND IT NEEDS TO STOP WE THE PEOPLE COUNDN'T DO HALF THE S**T THAT THEY DO AND BE ALLOWED TO GET AWAY WITH IT

Originally Posted by CaptDreadlocke

This is the sign at the entrance to Ironwood Nat Park. About a 10 min drive west of I-10 and 70 miles north of the border. It replaced a several years older sign that had been shot all to hades. Those are 20mm holes blown through two layers of 1/8" aluminum with a bullet resistant composite core. Standing at this sign you can turn around and see the tails of the mothballed 747's at Pinal Air Park. PAP is home to an Army NG heli trainning facility and "other" operations. Federal enforcement is a bad joke out here.

THIS IS A DISGRACE AND A SLAP IN THE FACE OF EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN. THEY ARE JUST ALLOWING THESE ILLEGALS TO TAKE WHAT THEY WANT NO QUESTIONS ASKED THEY ARE ALSO ALLOWING THEM TO COME HERE AND TAKE OVER. THIS COUNTRY IS GOING TO HELL IN A HAND BASKET, AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS ALLOWING IT TO HAPPEN.

I see a really bad slippery slope happening here. Soon, the restricted areas will be expanded. Then they will expand again, again, and so on. We are slowly giving our country away...Mile by mile, city by city. They are taking over. There are even towns very close to the border that have police chiefs, mayors, etc. on the take w/ drug cartels. The majority of these officials are immigrants, or children of immigrants from Mexico.

Are we going to do nothing about this? In Mexico, it is illegal for an immigrant to be politically active. Why are we allowing our politics, government, and population to Mexico?

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT LA RAZA WANTS!
AND OUR CURRENT ADMINISTRATION!
WE NEED TO STOP THESE ASSES IN NOVEMBER.
STOP THEM COLD!