TESTIMONY OF ROGER DI ROSA, REFUGE MANAGER, CABEZA PRIETA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BEFORE THE U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE AND TRANSPORTATION, REGARDING ENHANCING NATIONAL BORDER SECURITY
June 17, 2004
Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the Department of the Interior on national border control and cross-agency law enforcement initiatives at Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Southwest Arizona. I am Roger Di Rosa, refuge manager at Cabeza Prieta.
Although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has a variety of law enforcement responsibilities within the National Wildlife Refuge System, the Service is not the federal agency responsible for international border security. Nevertheless, the natural resources that the Service is responsible for conserving are experiencing damage due to illegal activities such as smuggling and illegal immigration across refuge lands throughout the Southwest. In addition, these illegal activities pose a threat to the safety of volunteers, the public, Service employees and, especially, to our law enforcement officers. The safety of these individuals at Cabeza Prieta is my highest priority.
As law enforcement efforts by the Department of Homeland Security’s Border and Transportation Security Directorate have increased around populated areas and ports-of-entry, there has been a shift in smuggling and illegal immigration crossings through more remote lands along the border. Similarly, a large amount of illegal drugs have been smuggled across refuges and other public lands in recent years. For example, more than 100,000 pounds of marijuana was seized on refuge lands last year along the Southwest border. More than 23,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended in 2003 on refuges in Arizona alone.
To address these growing problems, the DHS Arizona Border Control Plan is placing additional resources along the Southwest border—they are placing thousands of law enforcement officers along the border with Mexico, and coordination is paramount to ensure the mission of the Service is taken into account when planning and implementing operations there. The Service has also taken steps to address the border issues. For example, the Service has recently implemented the Refuge Law Enforcement Zone System, which provides refuges with technical assistance on law enforcement, institutes reliable record keeping and defensible reviews, enhances training, and promotes communication and coordination. Moreover, the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2005 Budget proposes to place seven new refuge law enforcement officers along the southern border, including at Cabeza Prieta. These added officers will increase our ability to more effectively coordinate with the Department of Homeland Security and our other partners, who have primary responsibility for apprehending illegal immigrants and smugglers.
There are eight National Wildlife Refuges, totaling 1.1 million acre, that share 153 miles of the border with Mexico. Currently, there are fewer than 30 Refuge law enforcement officers currently deployed along the Southwest border. The Service has four refuge officers at Cabeza Prieta. These officers cover over 860,000 acres, of which 56 miles form a contiguous border with Mexico. Refuge officers are routinely involved with drug and undocumented alien (UDA) interdiction through their normal patrol activities. Sensors placed on known crossing routes by the U.S. Border Patrol have recorded illegal crossings during the busy migrating months of April, May and June. However, natural resource damage continues to be a problem and our ability to achieve our agency conservation mission has been compromised by increasing illegal activity along the border.
In addition to our law enforcement officers, the Service employs refuge biologists and recreation specialists who conduct daily field activities along or near the border. Their safety is a constant concern. Our non-law enforcement personnel on the refuge often conduct field work for extended periods of time in remote areas, often involving overnight stays in the wilderness. The refuge’s size and ruggedness negates the possibility that they can commute back and forth daily to their surveying sites. Due to safety concerns, the refuge has been forced to limit both biological field work and public use programs along or near the border.
At Cabeza Prieta, foot and vehicular traffic on lands that have been set aside for wildlife can be extremely disruptive to vegetation and animals, including endangered species, such as the Sonoran pronghorn, that require undisturbed habitat. Hundreds of miles of illegal trails and roads have been created from undocumented aliens crossing through refuge lands. This proliferation of trails and roads damages and destroys cactus and other sensitive vegetation, disrupts re-vegetation efforts, disturbs wildlife and their habitat, and causes soil compaction and erosion.
Historically, the Service has not had to be concerned about major homeland security issues, enforcement of immigration laws, and the smuggling of large amounts of illegal contraband. However, the Service has had to adapt its activities in response to the increased focus on homeland security issues in order to more effectively fulfill its mission of conserving wild plants, animals, and habitats. To accomplish this, it has become imperative that the Service, especially at refuges such as Cabeza Prieta along the border, work in conjunction with federal, state, and local agencies whose primary mission is border security.
Through multiple agreements and an evolving working relationship, the Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Custom and Border Protection's Office of Border Patrol and the Service are continuing to build an effective framework so that both agencies can fulfill their missions. The work the Border Patrol does to accomplish its mission is critical to the Service because their work supports and aids in protecting the resources within the National Wildlife Refuge System.
The Service is an active partner within the Departmental-level multi-agency workgroup established to implement the Arizona Border Control Initiative. Recognizing that the Border Patrol has specific laws, policies, and mandates that authorize the detection and apprehension of illegal and undocumented aliens entering the United States through refuge lands, a pilot program has been established through multiple Memoranda of Understanding (MOU). Under such MOUs, the Border Patrol has been granted permission to establish two field camps at Cabeza Prieta for more efficient access to border lands, as well as permission to utilize designated roads within the refuge.
The Service has also agreed to provide environmental sensitivity training for Border Patrol agents to heighten their awareness of national and local issues as they relate to environmental laws, in order to help protect natural resources within refuges.
Presently, the primary increase in law enforcement resources along the border is an increase in the number of agents along the border. The Border Patrol feels that in order to make this initiative fully successful agents must have greater access to protected public lands, and initially asked for exemptions to natural resource laws and regulations. Their reasoning is sound in terms of the accomplishment of the Border Patrol’s mission, and we need to work cooperatively with the Border Patrol – as we have – to minimize the impacts that would result from increased enforcement. In addition, the Border Patrol has always had exemptions for use of mechanized transport in Arizona wilderness areas, and for cross-country travel in National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges during emergency situations; and currently enjoys a high degree of latitude for other operational activities that would not be permitted for other parties in these protected areas. We support these activities because they will protect the lands from future degradation that will occur if no action is taken to reduce illegal traffic.
After multiple discussions with the Border Patrol and other affected agencies, the Service feels that minimally intrusive structures, technology and equipment, such as electronic surveillance equipment should be evaluated for future use. This can only be done by adding improved technology to the law enforcement toolbox. By doing so, the potential impact to natural resources will be minimized and, to the extent these methods are not sufficient, we will know, by having tried alternatives, that the natural resource impacts are necessary and unavoidable in order to increase national security along the border.
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge has a statutory responsibility to protect its wildlife resource values for their use by future generations of Americans. An effective law enforcement program is a critical element to accomplish that goal.
In summary, the Service is encouraged that border control negotiations include conservation and wildlife management concerns and have adopted a more flexible approach that considers all available options. All involved parties support the Department of Homeland Security’s ABC Initiative and are committed to developing the strongest, safest and most effective border control program without jeopardizing wildlife or their habitats. As refuge manger at Cabeza Prieta, I will continue to represent the Service in working with other agencies to solve problems that arise along the border. We do not believe we need to choose between homeland security and other values – such as conservation of natural resources. The effective use of all of the tools in our law enforcement toolbox, including advanced technology, will allow us to fulfill both priorities.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement on border control and cross-agency law enforcement along Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. I would be happy to answer any questions you or the other Members of the Committee might have. Thank you.