It’s not just the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona that has been closed because of danger from drug and human smuggling, other parklands have been too. So says Utah Rep. Rob Bishop.
The reason the parkland along the border has become so hazardous, Bishop said, is because environmental regulations restrict Border Patrol from using vehicles to patrol in those areas — except in special circumstances. In turn, he said, drug cartels are being funneled into those swaths as immigration agents get tougher patrolling private land.
Yikes. Heavy vehicle use in wildlife areas will almost certainly damage the environment, but the alternative seems even worse. Cartel drug violence and corruption has already spilled across the border. We need to do something about it now before it gets even worse. Like, legalize marijuana.