Illegals responsible for 40 % of wildfires

Washington Times:

Illegal immigrants started nearly 40 percent of human-ignited wildfires along the border between Arizona and Mexico between 2006 and 2010, according to a government report that gives new credence to claims Arizona lawmakers made earlier this year during catastrophic blazes in the Southwest.

That number may even be understated — the report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said federal land agencies often violate their own policies by not trying to investigate the origins of human-caused fires. Of the 422 human-caused fires, just 77 were investigated, and of those 30 were found to have been ignited by people illegally crossing the border.

Illegal immigration also makes battling the fires harder as firefighters worry more about their own safety and have to curb some tactics such as backfires for fear of harming illegal immigrants who may still be in the area, investigators for the congressional watchdog agency said in Tuesday’s report.

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The failure to protect the border allows these people to come across and set these fires even if by accident.  In some areas the Border Patrol is even prohibited from working on the border because it is federal own property.