Securing the border is the first priority

A feud between the Departments of the Interior and Homeland Security over federal wilderness areas that constitute 40 percent of the nation's southern border has been undermining the mission of both agencies for nearly a decade. This adolescent refusal to cooperate threatens the security of all Americans. That much was made clear March 27 when Arizona rancher Rob Krentz and his dog were shot to death by someone crossing the border illegally. The murderer then escaped in a pronghorn antelope protection area that the Interior Department placed off limits to Border Patrol agents. Krentz had repeatedly complained that illegals were threatening his family, stealing and destroying his property, and even sabotaging his ranch's water supply. Something's very wrong when law-abiding, tax-paying citizens like Krentz have to live in constant fear and get less protection from their own government than desert pronghorns. On April 6, the Examiner's Sara Carter quoted a confidential law enforcement report warning that 23 Somalis with suspected ties to al Qaeda were headed for the same unguarded border areas after being mistakenly released by Mexican authorities. If they entered the United States via the 4.3 million acres of federal wilderness areas, the Border Patrol was powerless to stop them. But legislation introduced last week by House Republicans would bar Interior from interfering with Border Patrol efforts to keep drug smugglers, human traffickers and potential terrorists...more