ARIZONA- On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved S.750, a bill that would waive all laws for any Border Patrol activity within 100 miles of Arizona's border with Mexico. The bill, introduced by Arizona Senator John McCain, proposes to "cut unnecessary red tape and enable Border Patrol agents to have access to all federally managed land in Southwest Arizona so they can perform their jobs effectively, keep our communities safe, and secure the border once and for all."

The Arizona Borderlands Protection and Preservation Act is labeled to sound as though it is meant to protect the environment, but actually has no provisions related to environmental protections and is actually just another measure to increase the authority of the federal government to patrol along the border. The bill would allow the government to conduct motorized patrols and to deploy communications, surveillance, and detection equipment on protected public lands, such as national parks, national monuments, and sacred Native American sites.

Opponents claim that there is nothing protective or preserving about this legislation, and that the bill is unnecessary to secure the border. The bill, in fact, would effectively weaken protections for ten million acres of Arizona's national parks and wildlife refuges. The Department of Homeland Security itself disapproves of the bill, which they claim is not necessary to further border security. It seems as though lawmakers are pushing the bill through despite the fact that the Border Patrol has repeatedly stated that they do not need this authority to protect the borders.

The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that is responsible for the bill's approval has not held any hearing to examine the impact of the bill on the environment and Native American communities, nor has it conducted any public consultation with nearby residents. As it is, hundreds of miles of walls, roads and other infrastructure have already been constructed under a waiver provision of the Real ID Act, which passed into law 10 years ago this month. The alterations to nature preserves have already resulted in flooding, habitat destruction and other damage. Opponents claim that this bill will expand the damaging waiver.

According to Christian Ramirez, Director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition, the bill lacks what is actually needed to reform the border, namely, "reforms to Customs and Border Protection to ensure greater oversight and accountability". The CBP has been the subject of much scrutiny in recent years after the deaths of at least eight people at the hands of agents that were unqualified for the job.

Reports of excessive use force, abuse of authority, and sexual abuse abound along with lack of transparency and oversight in the aftermath of these incidents. The lack of accountability has gotten so bad that civil liberty groups have developed a campaign called Dignity Crossing so that those who have been mistreated by a border agent along the southern border can submit complaints to somebody other than the Customs and Border Protection Agency. Less than 2% of official complaints submitted to the CBP result in any sort of administrative action.

The bill would give Border Patrol greater access to public lands, specifically national parks located within the 100 mile border zone, but opponents claim the bill is overreaching and overkill and will result in harm to public lands that aren't even near the border. According to Dan Millis, Borderlands Program Coordinator for the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club, Border Patrol has too much access as it is. He states, "in fact, Border Patrol currently has more access to the border and surrounding lands than the public." Under a 2006 inter-agency agreement, Border Patrol is allowed to drive off-road in designated roadless wilderness without prior permission. No other entity, not even a land manager, is allowed to commit this violation of the Wilderness Act.

In 2013, Sierra Club produced Too Many Tracks, a three-minute video documenting thousands of miles of renegade roads and unauthorized vehicle routes in two national parks in Arizona. The environmental impact of Border Patrol's off-road driving in designated road-less wilderness has already left a scar on the landscape, including over 7,000 miles of vehicle tracks and 650 miles of barriers. With this heavy use and alteration, the soil cannot recover from the compaction, water is re-channeled from its natural course, and wildlife is affected on a huge scale. "Border Patrol's environmental impact is much more intense than any damage caused by border-crosser," stated Millis.

Last week, 41 environmental and human rights organizations sent a letter asking Senators to oppose the bill on behalf of their millions of members and supporters nationwide. The letter quotes DHS Secretary Johnson, who states that "[t]he bill is extreme to the point of being unworkable; if enacted, it would actually leave the border less secure. The bill sets mandatory and highly prescriptive standards that the Border Patrol itself regards as impossible to achieve, undermines the Department of Homeland Security's capacity to adapt to emerging threats, and politicizes tactical decisions."

*With Information from Borderlands Sierra Club Press Release

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