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House Republicans: Stop squabbling and secure the border
the examiner ^ | 04/15/10 | Barbara Hollingsworth

Posted on 04/15/2010 12:41:45 PM PDT by opentalk

House Republicans introduced legislation Wednesday that would prohibit the Department of the Interior from using environmental regulations to interfere with the Department of Homeland Security’s attempts to secure the nation’s southern border.

As The Examiner reported in February, an ongoing feud between the two federal departments has left 4.3 million acres of federal wilderness land along the Mexican border virtually unprotected. So many drug smugglers, human traffickers, rapists and other criminals enter the U.S. at will that the park areas are now considered unsafe for all U.S. citizens.

The legislation would give DHS operational control over the border, free from Interior’s bureaucratic interference, and allow the Border Patrol to use vehicles and install electronic surveillance apparatus in wilderness areas without Interior’s approval.

The nearly-decade-old standoff currently allows illegal border crossers to sneak into the U.S. and trash environmentally sensitive desert areas, frustrating the mission of both departments.

Officials say that on March 27, Arizona rancher Rob Krentz was killed by a criminal who entered and exited the U.S. through the San Bernardino Wildlife Refuge - one of the same areas Border Patrol agents have not been allowed to adequately monitor. The Fish and Wildlife Service restricts BP agents’ access to the 2,300 acre refuge to foot and horseback patrols, allowing vehicles to enter only in an “emergency”.

“The gravity of the situation must no longer be ignored,” said House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee ranking member Rob Bishop, R-UT, who has spent months trying to get the two departments to work together.

“What many fail to recognize is that allowing the Border Patrol to apprehend and deter trains of criminal traffickers will not only remedy weaknesses in border security, but also improve the health and vitality of our protected federal lands, which have been severely damaged by years of abuse from drug and human traffickers,” Rep. Bishop pointed out.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; Mexico; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aliens; border; illegalaliens; invasion; mexico; obmam; security; terrorism

1 posted on 04/15/2010 12:41:46 PM PDT by opentalk
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To: opentalk
The nearly-decade-old standoff currently allows illegal border crossers to sneak into the U.S. and trash environmentally sensitive desert areas, frustrating the mission of both departments.

Hmmm - just who controlled the senate, house and president's office 10 years ago?

2 posted on 04/15/2010 12:47:05 PM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: opentalk

The worst craphole of a country on the face of the earth has tighter border security than the US.


3 posted on 04/15/2010 12:52:12 PM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (Voters who thought their ship came in with 0bama are on their own Titanic.)
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To: opentalk

Someone needs to get a better head of Homeland Security, also.
I don’t trust dear Janet one little bit.


4 posted on 04/15/2010 12:56:59 PM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: 2banana

Hmmm - just who controlled the senate, house and president’s office 10 years ago?”

Bill Clinton


5 posted on 04/15/2010 12:57:37 PM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: ridesthemiles

Hmmm - just who controlled the senate, house and president’s office 10 years ago?”

Bill Clinton”

Bush was not elected until NOv of 2000 and didn’t take office until Jan of 2001.


6 posted on 04/15/2010 12:58:25 PM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: opentalk

Even if the Republicans were to somehow get this measure passed, I seriously doubt that it will improve conditions at the border. The government doesn’t want that border secured, and as long as that is the unwritten mandate, it will remain so.

The People are the only ones who have the will to close it. Turn us loose and see what happens down there. It would be a virtual ghost town in no time, with the only traffic occurring at the official checkpoints.


7 posted on 04/15/2010 1:02:37 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: 1_Inch_Group; 2sheep; 2Trievers; 3AngelaD; 3pools; 3rdcanyon; 4Freedom; 4ourprogeny; 7.62 x 51mm; ..

Ping!


8 posted on 04/15/2010 2:49:17 PM PDT by HiJinx (Angels are found where you least expect them; let them comfort you.)
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To: opentalk

Fat chance getting this one past the Courts.


9 posted on 04/15/2010 3:15:24 PM PDT by Cyber Liberty (Build a man a fire; he'll be warm for a night. Set a man on fire; he'll be warm the rest of his life)
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