Lawmaker: Border road might stem illegal immigration

AZ Central
Associated Press
Nov. 22, 2005 07:05 AM

Building a road along Arizona's border with Mexico could stem the flow of illegal immigrants entering the United States, a state lawmaker says.

Rep. Doug Quelland, R-Phoenix, said U.S. Border Patrol agents would be able to head off groups of immigrants before they enter the country if there were a road.

Once in the country, Quelland said the illegal immigrants are afforded certain rights that waste the time of border agents and taxpayers' money.

Quelland filed a bill last week asking Arizona to spend about $6 million on the road that would wind its way from Douglas to Yuma.

The road, which would not be open to the public, would be a lane-and- half wide and would also help to deliver medical assistance quickly to those needing it.

"This is not just me being an ultraconservative, or whatever you want to label me," Quelland. "This is also about me being a humanitarian."

Each year, dozens of immigrants die in the Arizona's remote desert regions after crossing the border.

Money for the road would be evenly divided among the state's four border counties - Cochise, Pima, Santa Cruz, and Yuma.

However, the bill severely restricts the state from building on Indian reservations, military bases, federal land and private property without the owner's permission.

Jose Garza, a spokesman for the Border Patrol, said the bill's restrictions would do little to help his agency where it needs it the most.

Garza said agents have access to most of the border except for federal lands and mountainous regions where it's nearly impossible to build a road.