Rehberg wants to unlock gates, allow Border Control vehicles in non-motorized areas

Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Montana), has cosponsored legislation to prohibit the Department of Interior (DOI) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) from preventing the U.S. Border Patrol from fulfilling its congressionally mandated mission to control our borders. Some DOI and USDA policies, including forbidding the use of motorized vehicles on certain lands, have seriously undermined border control efforts on the northern border. “Once again, bungling bureaucrats have put Montana families at risk,” said Rehberg, a co-chair of the House Northern Border Caucus. “As long as we have holes in our border security, they will be exploited by terrorists, drug smugglers and human traffickers. It’s one thing to deal with the logistics of protecting ourselves, but it’s another thing to enact policies that actively prevent controlling the border.” While Americans are demanding border control, inflexible environmental policies instituted on DOI and Forest Service lands have closed off large segments of the border to necessary control efforts. More than 1,000 miles of the U.S.-Canada border are on federal lands, crossing 13 states, 12 National Parks and 4 Indian reservations. Unfortunately, Border Patrol access has been limited by public land managers who have literally locked out Border Patrol vehicles. To address this serious problem, Rehberg joined Western Caucus colleagues in sponsoring H.R. 5016, which would prohibit DOI and USDA from impeding the Border Patrol...more

It's not just bureaucrats and policy. In many cases it is a law passed by Congress, such as the Wilderness Act, which prohibits all motorized traffic. Nothing will change until the law is changed.