The GameCock
ARIVACA, Arizona -- Empty water jugs and scraps of clothing are as common as saguaro and mesquite in this part of the Sonoran Desert, 12 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
There are places along the Mexico border in Arizona where the desert floor is hidden by discarded backpacks, shoes and other refuse left behind by people crossing the border.
These are the signs of illegal immigration, found in heaps at camps, along well-worn paths that run through the dry desert creek beds and ever closer to Tucson, 50 miles northeast.
"It would be an understatement to say parts of the desert have been trashed," said Gail Aschenbrenner, spokeswoman for the 1.7 million-acre Coronado National Forest, which shares 60 miles of border with Sonora, Mexico.