Stump Canyon residents are seeing red
about illegal immigrants dumping trash
on the U. S. Forest Service land.
(Ed Honda-Herald/Review)
Posted on 05/02/2003 8:46:02 AM PDT by HiJinx
Trashed: Canyon residents outraged over illegal immigrants' garbage;
Forest Service officials stumped on how to solve the problem
STUMP CANYON -- U.S. Forest Service officials know they have the responsibility to keep public land clean, but they just don't have the resources to pick up hundreds of pounds of trash left by illegal immigrants, agency officials said.
Residents of Stump Canyon said they have tried to keep the area clean, but it is becoming too much of a job because more illegal immigrants are using Forest Service land near their homes.
On Wednesday, some residents took Forest Service employees to an area where a number of small, trash-strewed camps have been made by people who entered the United States from Mexico.
One garbage-filled area was particularly disheartening for Nate Cooper.
On Saturday, he picked up two large garbage bags of trash in a 50-by-50-foot area. By Wednesday, it was again full of debris.
"This all since Saturday afternoon," Cooper said, shaking his head in disbelief.
On Wednesday there were 10 backpacks, clothing, opened canned food items, plastic water bottles, pieces of plastic sheeting and other debris, including discarded airline documents. A boarding pass for a woman's flight from Mexico City to Hermosillo, the capital of the state of Sonora. The document stated the woman boarded a 7:40 p.m. flight April 24.
Cooper said he found 20 airline tickets when he cleaned up the area Saturday. He said he also found a document with a listing of all the Mexican consulates in the United States with their phone numbers. The latter he turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol.
A canyon resident for eight years, Cooper said illegal immigrants have no respect for America's public lands and do not care for private property. It makes no difference if it is public land or private property, they trash everything, he said.
Near the campsite Cooper had cleaned up Saturday as part of the canyon residents' cleanup day, other camping areas are full of debris.
Infants were probably part of groups of illegal immigrants, for baby food jars were seen. Broken glass was scattered through different areas, a danger to humans and animals.
A.M. Arvizu, recreation area manager for the Forest Service Sierra Vista Ranger District, said, "We don't have the resources to deal with it (the trash). But it is our responsibility."
The Forest Service's inspector general released a report Wednesday noting that land under the federal agency near the Mexican and Canadian borders are virtually not patrolled. Forest Service officials in Washington, D.C., are concerned that land near the nation's borders can be used by terrorists and others, which requires more work with other federal agencies and the Department of Homeland Security.
Nationally, the Forest Service needs additional resources, manpower and funds, the agency said.
Inga McCord, another Stump Canyon resident, said the beauty of the area and the ability to hike unafraid in the area no longer exist.
"I've been angry a long time (about the situation)," she said.
Arvizu said, "We're not geared up to handle all of this."
For Roger Barnett, who does not live in the canyon but is a friend of those who do, the only way the trashing of the environment is going to stop is for federal agencies to stop illegal traffic, people smuggling and drug smuggling at the border, not once the people come into the United States.
Barnett has held a number of illegal immigrants who have used his ranch near Douglas as a crossing point, turning them over to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Again Arvizu emphasized the responsibility of keeping the Forest Service land clean is the responsibility of the federal agency.
Fire caused by illegal immigrants is also a concern Arvizu and canyon residents have.
Additionally, the illegal traffic is cutting new trails on Forest Service land which is damaging the environment, Arvizu said.
The illegal immigrants do not care about the land "because it's not their back yard," he said.
Cooper and McCord said they and the other canyon residents will continue to do what they can to clean up the areas, but they said they are more fearful of going into parts of the area not knowing what type of people they will come upon who may harm them.
Celeste Gordon, a recreation specialist with the Sierra Vista Ranger District, said all canyons in the Huachuca Mountains are major routes for illegal activities and the Forest Service and other federal agencies, such as the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the Border Patrol and the National Park Service, are working together to overcome the problem.
"But we've got to have more help, more funding," she said.
Local Stump Canyon resident Inga McCord speaks with U.S. Forest Service personnel about the trash piling up around their homes and the increasingly dangerous encounters with drug- and people-smugglers using their back yards as "hidden highways" on their trek northward.
g in Phoenix
They get it. But our elected officials could care less what the citizens want.
They have no intention of securing our borders or stopping the titanic lawlessness...
Actually, they consider our land THEIRS (stolen), and they are treating it as if it were THEIRS. They treat it EXACTLY like they treat their own homes. You should see the trash littering my building. I've never understood why a people would leave their homeland "for a better life" only to bring the worst of it with them, and live no differently here than there.
And some konservatives think this is not an invasion or an attack on our sovereignty......
With a catapult, even!
That's not the problem. This attack and invasion of our country by illegal aliens has reached FAR beyond Cochise County. Far beyond it, into Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Tennesse, Ohio, Illinios, Indiana, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Florida, etc etc etc etc.......
Our elected officials have no desire to secure our borders or our sovereignty, and they stand in stone silence in the face of this epic lawlessness.....
That's true - if I was to move from America to another similar country. But to move from Mexico, where they live in utter depravity, to America, and bring the worst with them is the problem I have. Culture is one thing - I understand wanting to preserve your culture for your family, etc. But to bring the worst of the society you fled from on your way to a "better life"? I don't get that.
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