I Own A Ranch In Arizona - Illegal Aliens Are Destroying The Land And Killing The Livestock

What was once a tranquil, pristine cattle ranch of 10,000 acres near the U.S./Mexican border is in serious trouble. The Davis cattle ranch – in our family since 1867 – has been overwhelmed by a constant flow of illegal alien border crossings and people who are turning the land into a very stressful, sometimes dangerous place to live.

Thousands of illegal border crossers who are encouraged to enter the U.S. due to lax enforcement policies and various amnesty programs are threatening our way of life and inflicting great damage to our borderlands.

In the 1970s, there were only a few illegal crossers each year. By the 1990s and today, daily illegal crossings easily number in the hundreds. In addition, the attitudes of the illegal aliens entering our country have shifted dramatically over the years and not in a good way. Some illegal aliens crossing over our ranch are much more confrontational now. A few have been aggressive, even threatening to my family.

What’s worse, these illegal border crossers make ranching a far more difficult, dangerous and expensive way of life. We have been forced to rebuild or replace hundreds of miles of fence that illegal aliens cut while crossing... My family once had an extensive breeding program ruined because our fences were routinely cut...

Illegal border crossers have also damaged our windmills and water tanks, sometimes beyond repair. Once, they drained our water tanks of 10,000 gallons of water leaving our livestock without water during the hottest month of the year...

In addition, native plants on our property, such as the Soaptree Yucca cactus, which can grow to be 12 feet high, Century Plant, barrel cactus, and the Mesquite tree have been trampled by drug cartels crossing in their vehicles. Many of these plants are protected – we ourselves would be violating the law if we removed these native plants from our property...

My family and I have picked up every form of trash imaginable - plastic bottles, blankets, food wrappers, clothing, backpacks, diapers, pregnancy tests, hypodermic needles, cellphones, and chargers. Human feces are found in abundance... The trash is even more of a health hazard to livestock...

Most people don’t realize how the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) adopted policies in 2011 through 2014 to dismantle border enforcement. These policy changes protected large classes of illegal aliens from immigration enforcement agents. DHS also adopted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012. This policy outright gave work permits to classes of illegal aliens.

DHS never did any analysis about whether these policies, once adopted, might adversely impact the environment. Many believe that DHS is violating federal law by adopting discretionary policies with no environmental impact analysis whatsoever...

This has been a long, tough struggle for me and my family. We have contemplated selling the ranch, despite our generational ties to the land we love. But ranches far from the Mexican border are worth much more than land impacted by illegal alien traffic. It would be nearly impossible to sell and relocate - we simply can’t afford it...

For this reason I, along with several other individuals and groups, have joined a lawsuit filed by the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) in the US District Court for the Southern District of California against the DHS for ignoring its responsibility to American citizens to protect our border and enforce our immigration laws. To find out more about the lawsuit, visit www.irli.org/nepa

The next president must reverse present policies and empower the DHS to secure the United States’ southern border. Our next president has a clear choice: either stem the flow of illegal aliens into our country, defend our nation and protect our lands, or allow one historic aspect of America’s heritage to disappear forever.