Chertoff: Illegals 'degrade' environment

[baldguy]

Source: AP via Yahoo News

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Monday defended the construction of a fence along the southwest border, saying it's actually better for the environment than what happens when people illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico line.

"Illegal migrants really degrade the environment. I've seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas," Chertoff said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "And believe me, that is the worst thing you can do to the environment."

To curb illegal immigration, the U.S. government plans to complete 370 miles of fencing and put 200 miles of vehicle barriers on the southwest border by the end of 2008. But this has brought complaints that the fence and barriers are harmful to the environment.
...

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071001/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/border_fence

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Next will come hunting permits to eradicate the vermin? (Just you forget about our corporate buddies and their asbestos, and mercury and other various toxic byproducts.)

Have I said tonight how much I hate these people? :puke:

[Trillo]

1. I've seen horse manure in the woods, stepped in it, too.

Bird poop all over the place. etc. Insects crawling out of holes in trees. Dead trees. Oh, my.

[Sequoia]

2. Pictures? He's seen pictures.....!!!!

Here's a picture for you idiot.

[rodeodance]

3. A fence is degrading to the enviroment!

[thereismore]

4. Idiot! And believe me, you've done much worse to the environment! nt

[Barrett808]

5. A fence won't stop human migration, but it will stop animal migration

And therefore will be quite detrimental to local ecosystems.

[pitohui]

21. not so, the migrants at this border have wings

what migrates across the rio grande that is not a bird, a butterfly, or an odontate?

i've observed many creatures migrating over that river and they all had wings other than the humans, their horses, and their dogs

don't give up hope so easily my friend

[zbdent]

6. Wait a minute ... illegal immigrants/aliens degrade the environment?

And they say we liberals want illegal immigrants ... they sound like Republicans!

[DLnyc]

7. Illegal: Chertoff degrades our environment. Also, Bush, Cheney, Bolton,

Negroponte, Rice, Gonzales, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Libby, Cheney again, North, Allington, Hayden, and every other damn neo-con facist wannabe narco robbing stealing bastard you rode in on!!!

On a positive note, though, these guys will make excellent fertilizer one day. Soon, I hope.

[natrat]

8. what complete pieces of shit these people are (*,cheneyetc)

[tekisui]

9. Goddamn Sons of Bitches, the whole Outfit. Off to the Hague.

[woodsprite]

10. Actually, I thought the current repubs were degrading the environment. n/t

[Mendocino]

11. I can already hear Billo or Limpballs proclaiming...

..Democrats oppose Republican plans to protect environment in sensitive desert areas.

[Canuckistanian]

12. Sounds exactly like the bigots who tried to take over the Sierra Club

A bunch of barely concealed neo-nazis trying to hide behind environmental causes to do their ethnic cleansing.

Looks like they have a new champion - Skeletor.

[ProudDad]

13. I guess he's been following around those fat fucks

that call themselves "minutemen". Sounds like their camp-outs.

[hatrack]

14. This from an administration that has done more to SHIT on the environmentt than ANY in our history .

Pathetic pandering bullshit.

Fucking unbelievable.

[EFerrari]

15. No, the worst thing for the environment is the Bush EPA, mofo.

:puke:

[lumpy]

16. Bushco has really degraded the environment

in Iraq big time. Chertoff is such a maroon.

[gratuitous]

17. Gee Mike, and what do failed levees in New Orleans do to the environment?

I know that there are people who think like this, but do they have to occupy high government offices?

[Robbien]

18. Do these GOPers ever take a minute and listen to themselves?

The filth, bigotry and insanity coming out of their mouths would make a good mother cry.

[Chulanowa]

19. Again, they prove they have no fucking clue what "environment" means

To the conservative, the "environment" is a scenic picture for a postcard and nothing more. If there's an ancient beer can under some moss in one corner of the picture, the "environment is ruined" - but if there's a wal*mart parking lot and open sewer behind the person taking the picture, that's not a problem.

[hunter]

33. Or a coal mine...

A big corporation can blow the tops of entire mountains and dump the acidic waste in the valleys without anyone in the Bush administration complaining, but littering by illegal aliens is suddenly a problem worthy of their attention???!!!

:wtf:

[pingzing58]

20. Chertoff should have been fired after Katrina but oh, let's give him an applause for good work.

[Socal31]

22. So being against ILLEGAL immigration,

that no Dem or repug in power has fixed to change the law, makes you somehow a racist or biggot? I hope you explain to your children that it is OK to break federal law, as long as you dont agree with the law.

[baldguy]

24. Why is one's worth as a human being dependant on which side of an imaginary line he was born?

I hope you teach your children that ALL people deserve respect and that ALL people have rights.

[Socal31]

35. Try and get into Mexico from the southern border without papers...

see what happens. Ignorance.

[pampango]

39. Don't know about baldguy, but my belief system is not influenced

in the least by what the Mexican government, or the US government, for that matter, choses to do or not do. I agree with baldguy's sentiments, even if the majority of Mexican (and American) politicians do not.

The good fortune or bad fortune of being born on either side of an imaginary line should not affect one's rights any more than gender, race or ethnicity should effect it. Governments do not recognize that and probably never will. They must be responsive to the perceived self-interest of their citizens, not to that of those born on the "wrong" side of the line.

One still believes what one believes whether it is recognized by the governments of the day or not.

[LanternWaste]

26. Well, my friend-- that's what the Abolitionists believed...

"I hope you explain to your children that it is OK to break federal law, as long as you dont agree with the law."


Well, my friend-- that's what the Abolitionists believed...

[Bridget Burke]

36. You misspelled "bigot"...

Really, it's one word you ought to know.

[JohnnyChill]

23. Will it ever end?

Long term the Bush Administration will probably kill more people with their "enviromental" policies than they have in Iraq. If the GOP steal another election the world is doomed.

[OneBlueSky]

25. "I've seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact . . .

in pristine areas," . . .

sounds like he's recently visited the White House . . .

[coalition_unwilling]

28. Chertoff personifies and exemplifies human waste -n/t

[yellowcanine]

27. Human waste, etc, is the worst thing you can do to the environment? I can think of lots of things

that are worse. Building a big ass fence for one - fences not only impede human migration, they impede migration of wildlife as well. Not to mention all of the environmental destruction, soil compaction, motor vehicle pollution, etc associated with constructing the fence.

[UTUSN]

29. CHERTOFF is an Eco-terrorist!!1

One of the technicalities of international affairs is that national borders extend to the middle of such natural features as rivers. Not that Shrub respects niceties like SOVEREIGNTY-- not that of others, and now not OURS! His border fence cannot be built in the middle of the river, so it will be built NORTH of the river, a de facto gifting of territory back to Mexico (from whence it came to begin with). Not to mention performing a Psycho slashing into wildlife refuges, parks, and, yes (for the Jerome CORSI Superhighway crowd) private property.

Shrub is no stranger to appropriating private property for the benefit of his developer buds, as he did in Arlington, TX, while he was the Weak-governor-system placeholder. (It still burns that our crack investigative media didn't follow up on Molly IVINS's detailed clues to Shrub's sorry record in 2000, 'cause they were too man-crushed with his bully "Don't mess with Texas" farting.)
http://www.borderfencenepa.com/wp-content/uploads/gener...

For beautiful pictures by DUer Maestro of birdlife on the refuges the wall will destroy:
http://www.capture-the-pixel.com/popular/1/165015032#16...

Sign the petition!!1 Here:
http://notexasborderwall.com/

[Jim Lane]

30. Hey, Chertoff, here's how you can convince me that you're a genuine environmentalist

There are places along the southwest border where the U.S. uses herbicides/defoliants to eradicate every last living plant. The idea is that, with no vegetation to provide cover, illegal immigrants will be easier to spot and apprehend.

When you denounce that practice, Chertoff ol' buddy, I'll buy you a Sierra Club calendar.

[DJKDJKDJK]

31. Seen pictures...

Oh god...someone needs to kill that man. Don't believe everything you see or hear people. ARGH!

[Quantess]

32. No, it actually isn't the worst thing you can do to the environment. However,

Chertoff is right about the littering. I've been to places near the Mexican-American border, and there does seem to be a lot of litter. A lot of illegal dumping, and a lot of plain old littering.

There are, of course, logical reasons for this. Destitute people can't afford garbage service.

Edited to remove the hide smiley. I don't need to hide from my above comment. I can stand behind that one, bravely. One doesn't need to ignore the truth to be a liberal. Sorry if anyone has hurt feelings, but, I stand firmly behind my statements.

You want to deny that there is more litter and garbage strewn near the Mexican-American border, than in the rest of the US? The obvious truth? A lot of Illegal Mexican Immigrants are poor people who can't afford garbage service. That's just the sad truth.

[semillama]

34. er, not to paint a huge target on my chest here, but he's sort of got a point.

I point you to this press release by the Defenders of Wildlife, hardly an enemy of the environment:

http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0201-14.htm

"WASHINGTON - February 1 - Some of the Southwest's most beautiful wildlife habitat and wilderness areas are suffering needless damage as increased border enforcement activities in urban areas drives illegal immigrant traffic into environmentally sensitive areas along the U.S. Mexico border, according to a report released today by Defenders of Wildlife. Compounding the problem is the accompanying Border Patrol enforcement activities, including road and wall construction, off-road vehicle patrols, and low-level helicopter flights. The report spells out several options for policy makers seeking to secure our borders while also protecting national parks, monuments, and wildlife refuges.

"Current immigration and enforcement activities along the border are destroying many of the Southwest's most beautiful wilderness areas, but we don't need to destroy our nation's wildlife, parks, and refuges to protect our national security. All it takes is a little foresight and planning to protect these important places even as we protect our borders," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, Executive Vice President of Defenders.

The report focuses largely on the damage done to the Arizona borderlands, in particular Arizona's two largest wilderness areas: the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. These areas encompass more than one million acres of desert wilderness and are home to a stunning array of imperiled wildlife including the Sonoran pronghorn, jaguar, desert bighorn sheep, Gila monster, tropical kingbird, and desert tortoise. But immigrant traffic and border patrol activities have severely damaged these areas in ways that could take decades to repair. For example:

Illegal trails and roads carved by immigrants can destroy sensitive vegetation and wildlife habitat, and affect erosion patterns. The fragile desert soils and plants could take over a century to recover.

Vehicles abandoned by illegal immigrants are expensive to remove and towing them causes additional damage.

Trash and human waste left behind by illegal immigrants affects soil and water quality.

Low level helicopter flights by the Border Patrol disturb wildlife and habitat areas.

Off-road vehicle patrols damage sensitive regions vital to local wildlife.

U.S. road, light, and fence-building projects disturb wildlife, destroy habitat and shift animal migratory patterns. "


Now, before the arrows start flying my way, let me say that I'm also against a huge, Israel-style border fence as well. But we also have to do something to protect these refuges, and that means addressing the issue of illegal immigration.

And I will take issue with his statement that this is the worst thing you can do to the environment. I'd think that not reining in carbon emissions might be a little bit worse.

[Bridget Burke]

37. "Border Fence May Destroy Wildlife Habitat"

From The Houston Press, May 31, 2007

U.S. Fish and Wildlife services spent $80 million to reclaim wildlife habitat in South Texas. Now Homeland Security is ready to wipe that out.....

In the last 20 or so years, the U.S. Department of Fish & Wildlife Services has spent $80 million in taxpayer money buying up old farmland, empty lots and any other property for sale along the Rio Grande. Then, with the help of volunteers — including classes of schoolchildren — they've gone about replanting native vegetation on it to create a wildlife corridor with a series of refuges. The area is about as biologically diverse as it gets.

It's a top birding destination — and when there are birds, there are 150,000 to 200,000 birders bringing an estimated $150 million a year in trickle-down economics to the area.

The corridor is not only home to many bird species year-round, it is a major flyway for migrating birds moving up and down from North America to Central and South America. It is No. 1 in reptiles and No. 2 in mammals, and it is home to some of the few remaining ocelots and jaguarondi in Texas and the United States.

Now much of that same tract of land is going to be handed over for a fence, wiping out years of restoration work, say a chorus of critics that includes environmentalists, conservationists, farmers and city leaders. Yes, they support secure borders with ground sensors, cameras and whatever high-tech gizmos the feds want to trot out. They want more "boots on the ground." They are 95 percent with their federal government on this.

But what they don't want is a "physical" fence, and the construction work and brush-clearing that would accompany it.

www.houstonpress.com/2007-05-31/news/border-fence-may-destroy-wildlife-habitat/full

[lonestarnot]

38. Chertoff your very existence degrades the environment!

:puke:

[Javaman]

40. ah yes, HLS "greening" of racism. nt