Amendment Seeks to Help Border Patrol Do Their Jobs

We learned yesterday that Freshman Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has offered an amendment (No. 55) to H.R. 2584, the Department of Interior appropriations bill. The amendment would defund enforcement of 23 environmental laws that have been, or may be used, against the U.S. Border Patrol to prevent it from conducting border patrol activities on federal lands. Over 800 of the southern border’s 2,000 miles are made up of federal land, making it difficult for Border Patrol to secure those portions of the border without access. Rep. Gosar’s amendment is offered as a temporary fix to the issue of Border Patrol access on federal land until further legislation is enacted. Stay tuned for more information about this amendment.