Harriet Hageman Presses Sheriff On 'Degradation' Of National Park Land Due To Illegal Crossings

yesterday

During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) spoke about the environmental impact of illegal border crossings.

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Transcript

00:00I recognize Representative Hageman for five minutes. Thank you and thank you for being here

00:04today. The Biden administration's open border policies have fueled a historic crisis of illegal

00:10immigration, drug trafficking, and environmental degradation along the U.S.-Mexico border,

00:15especially on federal lands. Roughly 35 percent of the southern border is comprised of federal land

00:21which has been exploited by human traffickers, drug cartels, and illegal immigrants due to its

00:26remote and uncontrolled nature. Federal land management agencies have failed to provide

00:32border patrol with timely access and adequate infrastructure, allowing criminal activity to

00:38flourish and damaging public lands. H.R. 1820, the Flash Act, restores control by authorizing road

00:45construction, reducing environmental restrictions on border enforcement, increasing law enforcement

00:51access, and holding federal agencies accountable for securing our public lands. Our witness's

00:57testimony highlights the Flash Act's necessity to defend national security, preserve environmental

01:03resources, and empower local and federal law enforcement to combat illegal activity on our

01:08public lands. Sheriff Cleveland, Wyoming may be more than a thousand miles from the southern border,

01:15but the consequences of failed border security have reached every single community. Fentanyl

01:20and other narcotics are flowing into Wyoming through illegal border crossings, and the cost

01:24to public safety and human life has been enormous. You have described the severe environmental damage

01:30in Terrell County caused by illegal crossings, including trash, human waste, erosion, and

01:35destroyed property. Have you seen evidence of long-term degradation of federal lands like

01:40national parks and wilderness areas in your region? I would say yes, ma'am, and again based on

01:48trash that's left behind. Again, being a native of that area, having worked out in Arizona

01:55in the Coronado National Forest, you know, a career in the U.S. Border Patrol and seeing the

01:59amounts of trash that's left behind. I also spoke to the buoys down in Eagle Pass and how

02:06the administration targeted our governor about the deployment of those, and then yet I can take

02:12you to a portion of my border in my county and show you where those muscles, although they

02:17aren't in human life, but where they're still, if we're making a point that those buoys are poisoning

02:22them or killing them, then I can show you where human crossing the border are definitely having

02:27an impact on those. Okay. Wyoming is home to millions of acres of federal land, and we know

02:33firsthand how restrictive management practices can hinder law enforcement. How have road access

02:39limitations and federal permitting delays impacted Border Patrol's ability to secure terrain like in

02:45the Big Bend region? So my county, there is no federal land other than on the Wild and Scenic Rio

02:51Grand River that we spoke of that's part of the National Park System and the Big Bend National Park.

02:56All of our roads are personally owned, privately owned by landowners. In the Big Bend, I'm not aware

03:03of any problems. Again, great working relationship between the National Park Service, U.S. Border Patrol,

03:07and then our local law enforcement speaking about sheriff Dotson there, who we're both very familiar

03:12with. We do a great job, meaning all of us working together to protect our portion of the border

03:18out in that area. Well, Mr. Perez, I'm going to turn to you then. Border Patrol's ability to access and

03:24patrol federal lands is not just a border issue, and it's in fact a national one. In Wyoming,

03:3048 percent of our surface estate is owned by the federal government, and we know the challenges of

03:35dealing with land management agencies that prioritize paperwork over safety. You testified

03:41that Border Patrol has better access to private lands than to federal lands in some instances.

03:46Can you provide specific examples of how these access limitations have delayed apprehensions or

03:52prevented effective surveillance? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. So, I can point out to deaths that occur because

04:01we're not able to patrol those lands unless there's an emergency, and we don't have the

04:06tactical infrastructure set up, so we can't monitor that area. So, we've got essentially blind

04:11spots along the border, and the cartels take advantage of that because they don't adhere

04:16to the regulations we have to adhere to, and so it's very detrimental for us. So, under the Flash

04:22Act, the Department of the Interior and Agriculture would be required to install at least 584 miles

04:28of navigable roads within 10 miles of the border. From a national perspective, including in states

04:33like Wyoming, how would improving access infrastructure on public lands affect our ability

04:39to intercept drugs and human trafficking operations before they reach interior states?

04:45This would essentially end what we call the no-go zones. We'd be able to actually go and patrol

04:52and have eyes along the border and take back the areas that we have ceded to the cartels because

04:59of the administration, the previous administration's policies. Well, I think that that's all a very

05:05good thing for us to do. I appreciate your testimony. With that, I yield back.

Harriet Hageman Presses Sheriff On 'Degradation' Of National Park Land Due To Illegal Crossings

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