Interior and Homeland Security Collaborate on Border Protection, Resource Conservation along US/Mexico Border

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar met with Department of the Interior and Department of Homeland Security Border Patrol employees at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on March 13, 2010 to discuss progress and cooperative efforts for homeland security projects in the area. Illegal cross-border impacts, including drug trafficking, have created significant law enforcement and environmental challenges there and on other Interior lands along the border. They have endangered the safety of staff and visitors, requiring restrictions on public access to many areas, damaging the habitat of threatened and endangered species and degrading lands with trash and illegal traffic.

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    Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar with Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Superintendent Lee Baiza, touring border crossing in Lukeville, Ariz. Tami A. Heilemann-DOI

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    Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar walks along border fence at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Tami A. Heilemann-DOI

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    Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar discusses border security and conservation with Arizona Representative Raul Grijalva, (Dist. 7) at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Tami A. Heilemann-DOI

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    Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar observes conservation conditions along the US/Mexico border at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Tami A. Heilemann-DOI

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    Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar meets with Robert Eggle, father of Kris Eggle, a park ranger who was killed in the line of duty, while pursuing drug smugglers at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on August 9, 2002. Tami A. Heilemann-DOI

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