In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the U.S. Committee on Indian Affairs, expressed his concern over the continued takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon by armed extremists, and urged the U.S. Department of Justice to fully prosecute anyone who has broken the law.US Senator Martin Heinrich“Unfortunately, the attack on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is only the latest effort in a growing campaign by anti-government interests to seize and sell off the American people’s public lands,” Sen. Heinrich wrote in the letter. “I am concerned that the absence of federal prosecution after similar events in the past, such as the 2014 standoff near Bunkerville, Nevada, may have emboldened these individuals to seize federal property in the Malheur standoff. There must be consequences for this sort of dangerous action. When the federal government does not fulfill its duty in prosecuting violations of the law, individuals are emboldened to further defy the law.”Efforts to seize and sell off America’s public lands are deeply unpopular in the West. Recent polling in Western states, including New Mexico, found that an overwhelming majority of voters in the region oppose transferring national public lands to state ownership.
Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News 