Report Linking Illegal Immigrants to Wildfires Vindicates John McCain
- Posted on November 23, 2011 at 12:21pm by
Liz Klimas
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(Photo: Arizona Strip BLM District Fire Management)
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (The Blaze/AP) — Sen. John McCain is now vindicated for comments he made earlier this year about fires caused by illegal border crossers, which had activists jumping on him for “scapegoating.” A new study by the Government Accountability Office has linked 30 fires during a 5-year period to people who crossed into the United States illegally. Although, an opponent dismissed the finding as meaningless.
“I hope this report is a lesson to the activists and public officials that would prefer to engage in partisan character attacks rather than focus the discussion on the vital need to secure our southern border,” McCain said Tuesday.
Here‘s the Huffington Post report from July that includes McCain’s original comments as well as several media sources calling him out for not backing up his claim:
The report makes no mention of whether anyone was prosecuted for starting the fires because that wasn’t in the scope of the report.
Former state Rep. John Loredo, D-Phoenix, said Tuesday that the GAO report shows that few of the wildfires are started by immigrants and questioned why McCain didn’t instead focus on how the majority of human-caused fires start.
“He knows what he did was wrong,” Loredo said. “He knows he shouldn’t have race-baited the issue. He’s continuously trying to find some type of evidence that supports his statement, and if anything, this report shoots his statement down in flames.”
The GAO gathered information for the study, which included fires within 100 miles of Arizona’s border with Mexico, from the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, and interviewed federal, state and tribal officials along the state’s 370-mile border.
Nearly 2,500 wildfires occurred in the Arizona border region from 2006 to 2010, but the GAO studied only those that were human-caused, burned more than 1 acre and those for which investigative reports were available. Of the 422 wildfires that topped an acre, federal fire investigators probed 77, or 18 percent.
The L.A. Times reports McCain saying that because only this percentage was investigated, the number of fires linked to illegal immigrants crossing the border may be higher.
The GAO report doesn’t cover wildfires in 2011 because investigative reports were not yet complete when the GAO was conducting its study.
The GAO found that 30 of the probed wildfires were linked to illegal border crossers primarily in southeastern Arizona based on what was written in investigative reports. Fifteen were thought to be a signal for help, provide warmth or cook food. An investigative report on the 2009 Bear fire backed up that suspicion by noting the discovery of discarded bottles and food wrappers with Spanish language labels near a campfire. It also noted that the area is frequented by illegal border crossers and is adjacent to a heavily used smuggling trail, the GAO report said.
Reports on the other 15 wildfires don’t give a reason for the start of the fire, but the GAO said a couple of them mention that the areas of ignition are known for drug smuggling.
McCain said he had been briefed on the link between wildfires and immigrants before he made his statements. Forest Service Assistant Deputy Chief Jim Pena later told a congressional panel that illegal immigrants were responsible for starting a handful of wildfires in southern Arizona’s Coronado National Forest from 2002 to 2011.
McCain clarified that he wasn’t referring to the 835-acre Wallow fire, the largest wildfire in state history that destroyed 32 homes, four rental cabins and forced nearly 10,000 people to evacuate earlier this year. Two cousins from southern Arizona have been charged with starting the blaze.
The smaller Horseshoe Two fire atop the Chiricahua mountains burned 348 square miles and destroyed nine homes. That fire investigation report indicates that drug smugglers continued to use the area while the blaze was under suppression, according to the GAO. Another wildfire burning at the time, the 47-square-mile Monument fire destroyed 57 homes.
The GAO also looked at fire incident reports for 1,123 wildfires in the area over the five-year period and found that 57 of them include firefighters’ suspicions that illegal border crossers were to blame for ignition. Those reports are not formal investigations into the fire’s origin.
The GAO said federal officials should come up with a strategy on which fires to investigate and use that to guide fire prevention activities and resources. Without a plan that includes selecting and prioritizing wildfire investigations, the frequency in which the blazes are caused by illegal border crossers remains unknown, the report said.
Federal officials cited a lack of available trained investigators to look into human-caused wildfires, according to the GAO report. Both the Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said providing security for firefighters or their equipment often ranks higher on the priority list.
U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell agreed with the report’s observations and recommendations. He said an interagency group is working on standardized policy for wildfire investigations.
The GAO also looked at how fire suppression has been impacted by the presence of illegal border crossers. The Forest Service issued a report in 2006 saying the border region could be dangerous for firefighters because of potential encounters with drug smugglers, high-speed pursuits, biological hazards and illegal border crossers seeking food, water or rescue. The GAO said federal officials it interviewed did not identify any specific threats or assaults.
But the federal officials said firefighting efforts sometimes are hampered over concerns about border crossers in the area.
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gonetotheright
Posted on November 25, 2011 at 9:22amAgnes
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 9:59pm
What is the race of the greater percentage of illegal immigrants? Mexicans!
When did Mexican beocme a race? FYI Mexican are legal citizens of Mexico, not the USA!
Report Post »peapaw
Posted on November 24, 2011 at 3:51pmStill waiting for CNN, ABC or Obama/Democrats to say they were WRONG.
Report Post »ACACIA
Posted on November 24, 2011 at 2:21pmjust goes to show you what BO bama and his political correctness crowd will do and lie about to enhance their political agenda!!!!!
Report Post »scrapadapolis
Posted on November 24, 2011 at 12:20pmIf americans have no rights in mexico so why do they have rights here?I say first off shoot to kill and walk away.The drug cartels can do it so will I,
Report Post »red_white_blue2
Posted on November 24, 2011 at 11:35amClose it! Anyone here illegal–I don‘t care how long you’ve been here..back where you came from–try again, but this time try the front door…and if you can’t do it…tough ****!
Report Post »Secessionista
Posted on November 24, 2011 at 9:38amNo matter how many fires they start, 100% of all dirty diapers left in parking lots are from illegal aliens. Most of the trash on the side of the road is left by illegal aliens. Massive amounts of property are destroyed by illegal aliens.
One of the very few rights and responsibilities afforded to the federal government is to keep the borders secure. The federal government refuses to do this. They are AWOL at their job and have thus forfeited their rights. There is no separability clause in the constitution, and therefore the federal government is now wholly illegitimate.
They do this while gang raping your grandmother at the airport.
You don’t have to pay taxes. And if you refuse, you will finally get your rights and freedoms back. Taxes are the ONLY power government has over you. All other powers come from their ability to collect tax.
Report Post »Secessionista
Posted on November 24, 2011 at 9:34am“and if anything, this report shoots his statement down in flames.””
There’s another fire started by the illegal defenders, lol.
Report Post »4xeverything
Posted on November 24, 2011 at 7:00am“…and questioned why McCain didn’t instead focus on how the majority of human-caused fires start.”
Uhhh, by humans?
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on November 24, 2011 at 6:47amHe still lost to Obama!
Report Post »InSooth
Posted on November 24, 2011 at 10:28amTrue – a sad statement of the mind-set of the American voters in 2008.
Report Post »mtnhimike
Posted on November 24, 2011 at 10:48amHe not only lost the whole US lost…..we will have a lost generation just trying to turn around the damage done by Obozo.
Report Post »housebroke2
Posted on November 24, 2011 at 6:23amcross border abductions, shootings, wildfires, drug traffic, human traffic, littering, illegally entering a country…..naw..they are just normal folks looking for jobs…our jobs
Report Post »pamela kay
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 11:35pmCLOSE the darn BORDER! Simple and direct.
Report Post »Obama Been Lauding
Posted on November 24, 2011 at 7:17amAgreed!!!
Report Post »Arrest, Confiscate, Liqidate assets, “Redistribute their Wealth” to deport, and stop all U.S. taxpayer moneys’, and services from being used by these leaches!!!!!
It would be interesting to see how much is spent, each year, on “Illegals”.
It was just recently released that “Illegals” got over $4 Billion dollars in tax returns, for one year!!!!!
Stop this scourge NOW!!!!!!
the_truth_or_not
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 11:23pmFormer state Rep. John Loredo, D-Phoenix, said Tuesday that the GAO report shows that few of the wildfires are started by immigrants and questioned why McCain didn’t instead focus on how the majority of human-caused fires start.
Ya’ll are missing the point! Loredo said few of the fires are started by immigrants. (so which is it Immigrants or illegall aliens?)
Instead why didn’t McCain focus on how majority of human-caused fires are started. (We should not focus on the facts of the issues at hand, when there are other facts Much larger and of an unrelated issue.)
For those of you who lack abstract thought, that is sarcasm.
Report Post »garbagecanlogic
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 10:07pmNow all they have to do is study a little further and they will determine that the illegals living in filth is causing the salmonella in the U.S.
The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
Report Post »The U.N. Out Of The U.S.
KICKILLEGALSOUT
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 9:23pmWe didn’t even need a report, every American knows these illegal foreign invaders were doing this and destroying our country! We need a sho ot on site policy at the border and to bring back Operation W E T B A C K to get rid of the existing illegals!
Report Post »qzak491
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 8:40pmThis looks like global warming to me.
Report Post »tmplarnite
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 8:31pmArticles for traitor Boob in the white house…kick every lousey politician out of office and charge them with treason and put them in prison for allowing illegals to “infest” our country…make all pay back every cent of welfare!
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 7:15pmAnd THIS is what they do… years later, the TRUTH comes out.. like with Ted Stevens in Alaska or Sarah Palin and the FAKE lawsuits.. or Christie O’Donnell and the sex lies….does it MATTER after the fact? NO.
Report Post »MORNINGELK
Posted on November 24, 2011 at 11:58amYou are right on. WE also get real strong reactions from our leaders like McCain.Like “ I told you so”,or “Dog gone it , we need to take this seriously, stop the partisan bickering. porfavor amigos”
Report Post »chips1
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 7:10pmSo the term illegal immigrant only applies to Mexicans. The article didn’t mention any other group of people specifically. Mc Cain didn’t mention a race. John Loredo is the racist.
Report Post »Agnes
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 9:59pmWhat is the race of the greater percentage of illegal immigrants? Mexicans!
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 7:01pmgee, you think?
Report Post »