Desert Invasion - U.S.

Illegal Immigrants Devastate the Tohono Indian Reservation

By Dr. Martin Brass, Soldier of Fortune

August 16, 2006

http://www.sofmag.com/news/permalink1/2006/7/16/1206433598904.html

It is a "border security crisis that has caused shocking devastation of our land and resources. ...illegal immigration levels have sky–rocketed causing a flood of crime, chaos and environmental destruction on our Reservation," Ned Norris, Jr., Vice–Chair Of The Tohono O'Odham Nation told the Senate.

The reservation has become "a prime avenue of choice for undocumented immigrants [criminal illegal aliens] and drug traffickers traveling into the United States. 1,500 immigrants illegally invade the Reservation daily, making it the "busiest corridor of illegal immigration in America

"The Nation's longest international border of any Tribe in the United States has created an unprecedented homeland security crisis for America,"

... There are 160 illegal passageways along the 75 mile shared border with Mexico – in 36 locations there are no barriers at all.

Using traditional Native American tracking techniques, these four Senior Customs Patrol Officers are personally responsible for hundreds of thousands of pounds of marijuana being interdicted on the Tohono O'Odham reservation in southern Arizona.

The trespassers have trashed the reservation with garbage and litter, creating a sanitation catastrophe.

Six tons of trash per day is littered on the Reservation, resulting in 113 open pit dumps that need to be cleaned up.

The Nation, struggling for financial survival, diverted $7 million from tribal revenues to try to maintain the sovereignty of the reservation from 2001 until June 2004.

The Nation blames the federal border security policy that concentrated on sending available agents and assets to close down key points of entry such as San Diego (CA), Yuma (AZ), and El Paso (TX)....

"Tribal members live in fear for the safety of their families and their properties. Homes are broken into by those desperate for food, water and shelter.

The 28,000–member Nation fights hoards of illegal immigrant [illegal alien] drug and human traffickers, robbers, and rapists.

The Nation's seventy–one member police force apprehended 71,700 illegal immigrants in 2002 and seized 65,000 pounds of illegal narcotics.

In 2003, police confiscated over 100,000 pounds of illegal drugs. From October 2003 to June of 2004, 180,000 pounds of narcotics were seized. 130,000 pounds of marijuana were seized by the end of 2004.

The police enforcement efforts cost $3 million dollars through mid 2004, but a bigger cost is the corruption of Indian teens and other tribe members....

In 2002, 4,300 vehicles were used for illegal drug and immigrant smuggling. A total of 517 stolen vehicles were recovered on tribal land.

From January 2003 to June 2004, 2,675 abandoned vehicles were found on the reservation with 308 stolen vehicles used for criminal activities en route to Mexico, according to Norris....

Our Tohono O'Odham Indian citizens are being psychologically, physically, and financially devastated while politicians agonize over how to get elected and big business figures out how to line its pockets with cheap labor.

Read the complete article.