Have a guess at who may have said this?
The first thing we need to do is open these gates.
President Biden? Vice President Harris? or one of the many open borders cheerleaders in Congress? The Sierra Club? Given the current state of affairs in Washington and elsewhere, any of those would be a logical assumption.
Actually, it was Miles Traphagen, a biologist with Wildlands Network quoted in the Arizona Central February 2021. He is concerned about the potentially destructive impacts of the bollard fencing at the Arizona-Mexico border on wildlife and its habitats.
Whether one agrees with Traphagen on the border fencing or not, there is great irony in both a biologist and President Biden expressing concern for saving nature, but disingenuously choosing to ignore perhaps the most significantly destructive factor on and around the border: illegal immigration.
In May 2021 alone, Customs and Border Patrol made 172,000 apprehensions (This number includes repeat offenders) of illegal border crossers at the southern border. Consider the amount of waste and damage that has been done to the southern borderlands wildlife and ecosystems in just that one month. The human smugglers, coyotes, and migrants themselves are responsible for these actions for sure, but most of the blame lies squarely on Congress and the Biden administration for their failure to credibly enforce immigration limits.
NumbersUSA is unafraid to tell the whole truth about the negative consequences of mass immigration, illegal and legal, to our country's natural open spaces, its wildlife and habitat, and its citizens.
There is great irony in both a biologist and President Biden expressing concern for saving nature, but carefully choosing to ignore perhaps the most significantly destructive factor on and around the border: illegal immigration.
Claiming to care about saving nature, but refusing to address ALL the factors impacting its destruction, even encouraging certain destructive factors, is careless, deceitful, even dangerous. A President who claims to support the saving of 30% of America's natural open spaces cannot expect us to believe he is serious when his own immigration bill would add over 37 million more people to the United States every decade.
We need sensible, sustainable solutions to saving nature and saving lives. This must include immigration enforcement aimed at putting cartels and human traffickers out of business, and placing emphasis on aid that helps would-be migrants increase the standard of living in their own countries. This approach to policy and law enforcement will reduce our own numbers reasonably, and protect American citizens, their property and our natural open spaces. We have and know full well the "root causes" of out-of-control illegal immigration to our borderlands. We don't need more studies and insincere trips to Central America with messages of "Do not come." This administration is doing everything possible to open those "gates" even wider, potentially leaving further destruction, damage and death as its infamous legacy. We need courage and enforcement of the laws of this land to do what is right, not just what will garner a favorable newspaper headline, or that will get people re-elected who then turn a blind eye to what is really going on at the border, and the damaging impact on lives and our lands.
Thank you for your activism and support in helping NumbersUSA be the voice in the wilderness for so many of our fellow citizens and residents, as well as for the preservation and protection of nature that sustains us all and requires adequate space itself to thrive. This task is daunting at times, but we must keep the faith and keep fighting.
CHRISTY SHAW is the Member Services Manager for NumbersUSA
