Welcome to Mexico: Land of Entrashment It wasnt too long ago I was driving through the strip of allowable eighteen

miles (where you can go without a passport) and I noticed that once I got outside of Juarez the countryside became increasingly junky. But it wasnt just junk, nor was it the occasional strewn litter. This was miles and miles and miles of literal litter strewn along the highway. A highway in need of repair, I might add. Apparently Im not the only person to notice. An article in the Houston Chronicle also discusses Mexicos litter problem. Soft drink bottles, snack wrappers, used diapers and cigarette butts clog city streets, rural highways and scenic beaches. Mountains of garbage stand sentrylike in empty lots and at the edges of bucolic rural villages. Discarded plastic bags hang in trees and dangle from cactus like bitter industrial fruit. Before some liberal whines about how this is what happens when people live in poverty, I would like to remind them that the litter bugs apparently arent impoverished. Not if they can afford sodas, snacks, disposable diapers, and cigarettes. And while noting that not all Mexicans are litterbugs, the article points out that enough of them are and that the problem is endemic. The article also notes that theres no concerted effort to clean up the mess, either. Nor is there any effort to deter. Those who support immigration amnesty may not realize that they could also be importing litter bugs. And with those bugs come problems such as backed up flooding; tourist disdain and decline; and an increase in diseases (in Mexico, because of the littering, dengue fever outbreaks are common in the rural areas.) For those who dont know what dengue fever is, it can be lethal and, in the case of the type found in Mexico, it has been lethal (re: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003645837_dengue31.h tml). BAD BUNNIES IN MEXICO I loathe to ask why for bad behaviors. As the mother of five, I recall all too well that when I would ask my children why they did something, the answer was always: I dunno. But in this case, we actually have an answer as to why Mexico has become the Land of Entrashment.

According to Hector Castillo, a sociologist who studies industrial trends among labor movements (in other words, he has a degree in trashology) its because the dumpers believe the act of dumping their load on the road is someone elses problem and not theirs: "They throw trash in the street because that's why they pay taxes," Castillo said. "Somebody else picks it up." Now Im beginning to wonder if I want Mexicans here legally. Its bad enough when they come here illegally, but do the legal ones really feel its not their responsibility to Keep America Clean? Mexico may well be looking to Texans for a solution (no, theyre not going to hire illegal cowboys to clean up the roads yeesh!) The Dont Mess With Texas campaign has been noted as being one of the most successful anti-littering campaigns in the United States. Begun in the year 2000, it reduced the accumulation of litter statewide by one-third. A group in Mexico tried the same approach with No Manches but it didnt work well and was discontinued. In case you think this is mere hyperbole based on one story; or in case you think Im a Mexiphobe, theres more to the story than a few dumpers. In a 2004 article by Allan Wall (VDARE.com) he reports: SEMARNAT (Secretara de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales), the Mexican equivalent of the EPA, reported in 2001 that only 53% of the trash in Mexico winds up in officially-designated landfills and dump sites. The remaining 47% is tossed outside in valleys, roads, vacant lots, bodies of water and clandestine dumpsites. VACATION TRASHDUMP In a 2001 article for NATURAL HISTORY, Alan Kesselheim related that he saw the following on the east coast of Mexicos Yucatan peninsula: Plastic bottles, milk cartons, sandals, strands of rope, disposable diapers, shopping bags, six-pack holders, sunglass frames, broken Styrofoam coolers, baseball caps, plastic GIs. They bob in the surf alongside incoming coconuts, mingle with the seaweed at the high-water line, flutter in the shrubs at the back of the beach. Not what I expected to see at a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You got it, Geraldo. Not even the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve could escape

the ugliness which some seem to consider decorating the landscape. A National Geographic article specifically tied the problem of Mexican trasheros to the border issue. The June 22, 2007 article by Craig Guillot pointed out that while a barrier to stop vehicles has been successful, the lack of ability to stop the foot trasheros has created a whole new problem in and around Arizonas Organ Pipe National Monument: Migrants on foot are responsible for large amounts of litter and waste, he said, particularly human feces and trash that accumulate at makeshift campsites. Care for a little poo with your campfire cookies? An article from the AP dating from June 2007 reveals that the mess being left by illegal aliens has caused a mammoth problem. According to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management: Cleanup crews from various agencies, volunteer groups and the Tohono Oodham Nation hauled about 250,000 pounds of trash from thousands of acres of federal, state and private land across southern Arizona from 2002 to 2005. But thats only a fraction of the nearly 25 million pounds of trash thought to be out there. Authorities estimate the 3.2 million-plus immigrants caught by the Border Patrol dropped that much garbage in the southern Arizona desert from July 1999 through June 2005. The figure assumes that each illegal immigrant discards eight pounds of trash, the weight of some abandoned backpacks found in the desert. What kind of trash are we talking here? Water bottles, sweaters, jeans, razors, soap, medications, food, ropes, batteries, cell phones, radios, homemade weapons and the ever famous, but seldom imitated: human poo. THE NEW MEXI-MINORITY Within its dingy borders, Mexico offers several sub-cultures. Among them- and as a direct result of its residents trashy behavior, have come the PEPENAORES, otherwise known as the garbage people. Theyre like dumpster divers here in the States, only theres no dumpster to dive into. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that social liberals are now counting these trasheros as indigenous people (I had no idea the Aztecs used disposable diapers!) I know Ive been looking at this light heartedly, but it really isnt funny at all. To illustrate how potentially dangerous this habit of roadside dumping is, I refer

to a story from USA TODAY dating from this year wherein 17 corpses were found stuffed in cars or dumped on streets in garbage bags across Mexico. These werent in dilapidated poverty areas. Rather, they were left in resort areas and middle class neighborhoods. Granted, theyre gang/drug related. But even the Mafia had the wherewithal to dump bodies away from the general population (oops, sorry, I meant to go serious with this) ANOTHER REASON TO OPPOSE IMMIGRATION. According to the EPA websites MILESTONES IN GARBAGE (yes, truly someone has studied this), the United States has been doing very well in containing its trash and waste. Or at least getting better (http://www.epa.gov/msw/timeline_alt.htm ). Sadly, the influx of illegal aliens and their lack of respect for OUR land- seems to have escaped even the most eco-freaky of Americans. Maybe the President and his congressional cohorts need to take a little tour of the places where the illegal aliens have left their calling cards. The places that our men and women of the Parks Service and the Border Patrol have to clean up. No, America isnt perfectly spotless. We still have litterbugs (nearly 77% of Americans admitted to having tossed something out of their car in the past year). But the fact remains that we cannot afford to bring the trasheros, and the diseases they carry with them, into our country.