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April 14, 2010 in Nation/World, Region
GOP: Border Patrol should control federal lands
WASHINGTON — A group of House Republicans say Border Patrol agents should be granted direct control over U.S. borders, even on federal lands managed by other agencies.
Lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday to transfer operational control of lands along the federal border to the Department of Homeland Security, instead of the Interior Department or Forest Service. The land agencies would still manage national parks, forests and other public lands, but would not have authority to block Border Patrol agents from acting as they see fit to secure border areas.
The lawmakers say the change is needed to improve border security, which they say is hampered by federal land managers more concerned with protecting wilderness and endangered species than securing the border.
“The Border Patrol is not being allowed do their job. That has to change,” said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah.
At a news conference Wednesday, Bishop and other lawmakers accused federal land managers of “hiding behind the law” to place wilderness or endangered species ahead of border safety. “It’s unforgivable,” he said.
Bishop and other lawmakers cited the March 27 death of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz as an example of the failure of current policy. Law enforcement officials say Krentz’s killer likely entered the United States through the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, a remote area near Douglas, Ariz., and Agua Prieta, Mexico.
The Fish and Wildlife Service manages the 2,300-acre refuge, where motorized vehicles are widely prohibited and roads and surveillance structures are scarce. In one instance, a tower used by Border Patrol agents was removed because of concerns about endangered species, said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., senior Republican on the Homeland Security Committee.
King called the proposed legislation “essential to restore common sense” along the border. He called it absurd that the Border Patrol, an arm of the Homeland Security agency, must negotiate with the Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies to control the border.
“This is Alice-in-Wonderland type material,” King said. “The average American wouldn’t believe it.”
Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, said federal land managers are committed to controlling the border and work effectively with the Border Patrol.
Salazar himself spent two days on the Texas and Arizona border last month, Barkoff said. She called the visit “extremely productive” for both land managers and federal, state and local law enforcement. Salazar toured the border by helicopter and foot and was briefed by Border Patrol agents and land managers.
“Secretary Salazar believes that we can meet the twin goals of protecting our national security and our natural resources,” Barkoff said in an e-mail, adding that federal agencies have made significant progress on border issues since President Barack Obama took office last year.
Matthew Chandler, a spokesman for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, said his agency is committed to a positive working relationship with Interior and the Forest Service, which manages vast acreage along the U.S.-Canada border, as well as smaller parcels on the southern border.
“We respect the missions of these agencies and, as challenges arise, we will continue to develop workable solutions on special status lands,” Chandler said.
But Bishop said federal border lands have become a dangerous, “unpatrolled highway” open to drug smugglers and other criminals who endanger American lives and cause severe environmental damage. He and other lawmakers said federal land managers routinely hinder the Border Patrol from securing U.S. borders by requiring lengthy and expensive environmental analyses, and even prevent Border Patrol agents from entering some areas.
Rancher Krentz “paid the ultimate price” for the negligence of authorities in the United States and Mexico, Bishop said. Krentz was found shot to death March 27 on his ranch near Douglas, Ariz. Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said evidence at the scene appears consistent with the known behavior of drug runners working for cartels based in Mexico. Cochise County investigators have said they don’t have a motive or suspects.
Three members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation have asked Napolitano to boost border patrols in the Boot Heel of New Mexico, about 10 miles from the area where Krentz was shot.
© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Obama honors Medal of Freedom recipients as heroes 
chump on April 14 at 4:31 p.m.
Just like the GOP… with claims of “smaller government” they totally miss the great opportunity to close down these “federal lands.”
Neither a fort, port, arsenal or postal road/office, the Western states of the union have been discriminated against with federal “authorities” who have captured the land of sovereign states.
Nor does the GOP mention anything about the dispatching of our neighbors to foreign shores without a 2/3rd Constitutionally mandated Declaration of War. These troops (who are contracted for periods longer than 2 years (which is all the funding a standing army is allowed under the Constitution) could, at the very least, be dispatched to our own borders.
The bloated ticks amongst the military industrial complex have dug in so much so, the GOP could be construed in a symbiotic relationship with the tick. Certainly the GOP would budget new resource allocations of trucks, helicopters and unmanned drones to help the Border Patrol in endeavors they have thus far totally failed at performing.
The article title could just as easy be- Side 2 of Party A finds new excuse to try to feed the M.I.C. while pandering to differences with Side 1 of Party A….
Another_Perspective on April 14 at 7:36 p.m.
Rambo’s
wyoboy on April 15 at 11:41 a.m.
Salizar is not one that you can trust to do what he says. This I learned from first hand experience when he was the Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
The sooner he goes the better.
One way to get rid of him is for legislative action to combine the Forest Service and the Department of Interior into one Federal Land Management Agency. Excluded would be the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other sub agencies that are not land owner management agencies.
Think of the cost savings eliminating duplicate jobs.
This is a two prong problem.
One is the current management promoted into decision making roles in the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management come from the moose and goose crowd. These new managers are not trained to deal with motorized recreation, mineral extraction industries or in this case, law enforcement agencies. Their first line of defense is to say no because the Endangered Species Act, Antiquities Act or some other restrictive type of legislation and administrative action they feel restricts the desired action. It is an easy way out.
The second part can be placed at the feet of congress that created this night mare of federal land management. They are the party that wrote the legislation in the first place without carefully considering the impacts years later.
Do I need to say spotted owl?