Concerned about our national security, U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9) has signed on as a cosponsor to legislation that allows the U.S. Border Patrol to secure a greater portion of our border in order to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs that threaten our national security.

“Our first step to secure the safety of this nation is border security and this legislation will go a long way in preventing the flow of illegal immigrants and illicit drugs into our country,” Luetkemeyer said. “For illegal immigrants, our federal lands have become the safest entry for them and for drug cartels into this country and that has to stop because they pose a threat to our families and our national security.” 

The National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act would prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture from taking action on public lands which impede the border security activities of the Secretary of Homeland Security.  It grants the Secretary of Homeland Security immediate access to any public land managed by the federal government within 100 miles from the border in order to conduct activities that assist in securing the border including maintaining and constructing roads, constructing a fence, using patrol vehicles and setting up monitoring equipment.

Luetkemeyer noted that despite claims by the president that our border is ‘more secure than ever,’ the General Accounting Office recently reported that only 44 percent of our border is under the operational control of the Border Patrol.  A large percentage of the land not under the Border Patrol’s control is public land managed by the federal government and thus protected by the Department of the Interior. 

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