We’ve all read about the stress that illegal immigration places on our countries hospitals and public school systems. There is a much stinkier problem that hasn’t been covered and that is the extreme amount of trash that illegal immigrants leave behind along our border as they attempt to break the laws of our country. Fox News has an article looking at this problem.
Who picks this cost up? Taxpayers! The article also states that the border agents pick up around 1,500 illegal immigrants a day in Arizona. When will Washington get serious about this problem and authorize the construction of a fence and possibly moat system along our borders? Here is an excerpt from the story:
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.
