Again, one can be against illegal immigration, but I feel I must shed a little truth that you probably won't hear from Fox as it doesn't fit the talking points. 1- The Sherriff quoted is from Pinal County which is NOT a border county, but he has become a poster boy for the right on the issue because the Sheriffs of the border counties don't support the AZ legislature's recent laws, as they believe it does nothing to help them or WORSE harms their efforts at law enforcement. (It's telling that the quote about crime on the border quotes only from a sheriff whose county isn't on the border, no?) 2- The park in the story was closed 4 YES FOUR YEARS AGO. Yet, this headline screams "recent events", otherwise why is it a "news story"??? 3- Violent Crime is AZ is at historic lows: "According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the violent crime rate in Arizona was lower in 2006, 2007, and 2008 -- the most recent year from which data are available -- than any year since 1983. The property crime rate in Arizona was lower in 2006, 2007, and 2008 than any year since 1968."
Additionally, "FBI Uniform Crime Reports and statistics provided by police agencies, in fact, show that the crime rates in Nogales, Douglas, Yuma and other Arizona border towns have remained essentially flat for the past decade"
Again, people can be against illegal immigration on it's own merits without distorting the reality of the situation. Despite what you may have heard, those of us in Arizona are not locked down in our houses in fear.
It would be nice if both sides had a little more respect for the truth and reality of what's going on here.
Finally, here is a FWS press release clarifying that the Park is NOT closed and points out that violence in the less than .02% of the park (yes 99.98% of park is open) is down significantly since 2006: http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/arizona/buenosaires/PDFs/USFWS%20MediaAdvisory%20BorderRefugeRemainsOpen%206%2016%202010.pdf
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