I want to share with you the following email I received from Sheriff Todd Garrison in Dona Ana County, New Mexico on his concern for the safety of citizens and reduction of protection on over one half a million acres of ground that President Obama is signing into Federal protection.  Please read and let Congress and the U.S. Senators hear your thoughts.

Thank you,

Steve Cox

I was just informed, that the President of the United States will sign a bill next week making over 500,000 thousand Acres in Dona Ana County a National Monument, called the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument/Wilderness. This is the bill,that Law Enforcement has fought for over eight years now because it does not give the Local law enforcement any confidence that we will be able to effectively do our job of protecting the public’s safety.

Everyone believes that Border patrol is going to do that job and I can assure you local law enforcement does support Border Patrol in the job they do. However, if a criminal, drug or human smuggler, gets past border patrol (which they do all the time)and kills, rapes, or commits any kind of crime, all this now falls onto the local law enforcement to take care of not Border Patrol. This is the primary reason local law enforcement has fought this bill, as it stands now we have access to this area and can effectively patrol. If the Monument Bill goes into effect there will be roads closed making it very difficult to effectively patrol even for the Border Patrol. We have asked that this bill include language that will not hamper the ability of local law enforcement to effectively patrol it but nothing has been changed. We have only been told we will have access if there is a need to respond, this will not include the need to patrol and keep criminals away.

It is my belief, that the only people who will truly gain anything from this monument will be the criminals/cartels, that will use the Monument/Wilderness area along the US/Mexico Border, in the same way it has been used in every other state, which has not been good and has not protected the lands the way they thought it would. Only law abiding citizens will obey laws; the criminal element will benefit most from this Monument/Wilderness area just as they have in other states. It’s a shame that we are so willing to give up the safety of this country in such a way as this, all in the name of protecting lands for the future use of our children. I believe these kinds of Monument/Wilderness Border areas have clearly show us all, they do not protect the land as these Legislatures have promised, but clearly allow the land to be abused in such a way that our children will never be able to enjoy them. This country and its leaders are asleep at the wheel or they are being bought off by the Cartels that will use these lands in such a way as to further erode the safety of our counties, or states and this Country we have all sworn to protect. I cannot believe the people that sit by and let these things continue to happen, do they really still believe all the lies they are being told? Are we really that naïve after all we have seen along our border?

I am asking that you please notify all law enforcement and ask them to stop this action before it happens. Please have them reach out to all State and National representatives they work with all of which have sworn to protect this country and ask them to stop the President from signing this action into law without further studies. This land is already being protected as a wilderness study area and with that comes great protections for the land as to how it can be used but it does not keep law enforcement off of it by closing all the existing roadways. We are talking about over 500,000 acres of land in the middle of the desert. Yes, there are some great areas within this proposed Monument/Wilderness that we need to protect, but to encompass all this land in one very large space will only create a pathway for the criminals to utilize it, to further their criminal activity, making it much more dangerous for the people that wish to enjoy these areas for what they are being set aside for.

Sheriff Todd Garrison

Office: 575.525.1911

Todd.Garrison@DonaAnaCounty.org