Fighting drugs and border violence at Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

The Ticket ^ | 02/29/12 | Liz Goodwin

[AtlasStalled]

On a hot desert morning last week, a group of 20 tourists gathered in the visitor center in Arizona's Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument to attend a mandatory safety briefing before taking a guarded van tour to Quitobaquito springs. The springs is part of the 69 percent of the remote border park west of Tucson that has been closed to the public since Kris Eggle, a 28-year-old law enforcement park ranger, was shot and killed while pursuing drug runners armed with AK-47s in 2002.

Organ Pipe was named "the most dangerous national park" that year and also in 2003 by the U.S. Park Rangers Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, before the group discontinued the series. The drastic increase of drug activity on Arizona's southern border since the 1990s has turned Organ Pipe rangers into de factor Border Patrol agents, and spurred state lawmakers to pass several laws cracking down on illegal immigrants within the state.

Since 2009, the park has offered van tours to the springs, as long as rangers armed with rifles go along to protect the visitors.

[soycd]

The solution is to shoot on sight anyone coming across the border with mexico and leave their rotting corpse
for other scum to find and join.

[Monterrosa-24]

This is more proof that the so-called Greens and the Sierra Club don't give a damn about the environment. They don't raise a ruckus about this because they can't frame it as big men businessmen being badguys for their greenie fundraising. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I love this area and it is a true jewel of American outdoors. It needs to be protected from MEXICANS...not liter, not abuse, not corporations...lets put an honest name on it...MEXICANS are the bad guys...along with about 8-10 percent OTMS and most of them are Latinos too.

[bert]

We’re headed there in May...... overland mail trail trip

[count-your-change]

I want my park back! This is one of the few places where a person can see the desert as it was a hundred of more years ago. At least that used to be true. Hiking around there was enjoyable for the variety of plants and wild life crowded together but now it's being trashed like the old Encanto Park in Phoenix was.

I'm being robbed!

[Monterrosa-24]

At night you can see parachute flares in the distance as the hunt for “coyotes” and their clients goes on. It is not exactly the desert stars that Roy Rogers sang about.

[JustSayNoToNannies]

Organ Pipe was named "the most dangerous national park" that year and also in 2003 by the U.S. Park Rangers Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, before the group discontinued the series. The drastic increase of drug activity on Arizona's southern border since the 1990s has turned Organ Pipe rangers into de factor Border Patrol agents

When drugs are outlawed, only outlaws deal drugs.