This week, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, chaired by Rep. Paul Gosar, held a hearing on the effects of the Biden Administration’s ongoing illegal immigrant crisis on America’s national parks and federal lands.
“Joe Biden has welcomed into our country over eight million lawbreakers, including hundreds of terrorists, since taking office. National parks throughout the country are now under consideration by the Biden regime to serve as future camps for thousands of illegal aliens,” said Gosar. “If implemented, our beautiful recreation areas will soon be overrun with trash, drugs and crime. Biden’s disastrous open border policies are ruining American communities and trashing our lands.”
Since President Biden took office there has been a 268 percent increase in monthly unlawful encounters at the border, resulting in millions of illegal crossings along the southern border of the United States.
Illegal immigration has significant well-documented negative consequences across the country, including on our federal lands and national parks.
The Subcommittee hearing focused in large part on the federal government’s recent decision to build “temporary” migrant shelters at Floyd Bennett Field, in the Gateway National Recreation Area in New York City.
Testimony also covered the fact that the surge of illegal migrants has caused environmental degradation and destruction of federal lands along the southern border.
Tohono O’odham Chairman Verlon Jose told the House panel that migrants crossing his reservation are causing problems, but claimed that the construction of a border wall causes more.
“Construction of a wall on federal lands near our reservation also interferes with the flow of scarce, vital water resources on which plants and wildlife depend. Our tribal members rely on these plants for food, medicine and cultural purposes,” Jose said without presenting any evidence.
Rep. Raul Grijalva was critical of the Republicans’ plans for border security.
“It didn’t do its job, as much as it was ballyhooed and talked about,” said Grijalva referring to the border wall. “It’s become political rhetoric and a political symbol. In terms of deterrence, it does not work.”
On Thursday, the Subcommittee on Federal Lands held a legislative hearing on four bills focused on securing the southern border, preventing environmental degradation on the border, and ensuring our national parks are not used for housing illegal migrants.
“Our federal lands are being used and abused by the thousands of illegal aliens crossing over our wide-open southern border every week,” said Subcommittee Chairman Tom Tiffany. “As the Biden border crisis spills into our nation’s parks and lands with trash pileups, migrant shelters, and even illegal marijuana grow sites, Republicans on the Federal Lands Subcommittee are determined to reverse the damaging environmental consequences and ensure our public lands can be enjoyed by Americans for years to come.”
“With record numbers of migrants crossing into the United States we are seeing increasingly harmful impacts on the environment including trash accumulation, habitat destruction, disturbance of lands and waters and many other issues,” said Rep. Bruce Westerman.