Wilderness Areas on the border? What a great idea if you are a cartel drug smuggler

The main problem with designating land along and near the US-Mexico border as a Wilderness Area is it prioritizes land management to protecting the environment and virtually halts any meaningful border enforcement activities. In the New Mexico bill, at least Bingman and Udall recognize there needs to be some Border Patrol access…three miles…five miles….arbitrary as hell when you look at the actual landscape. In effect a Wilderness Area designation says it is more important to protect the habitat of the Chiricahua Lepord Frog than stopping illegal aliens and drug smuggglers from entering the United States. We already have the Pajarito Wilderness Area just west of Nogales which is a major corridor for illegal entry and drug smuggling. The Border Patrol can’t build a fence on that stretch of the border or build roads to get access...more