Of the various concerns that stem from the thousands of people who illegally enter the county each month, one issue is often overlooked – litter.

“People don’t realize what illegal immigrants are doing to the countryside out here,” said John Smerekanich, a solid waste inspector for Cochise County. “There are some real good size dump sites. Tons of trash can accumulate.”

The agency only makes collections in the wilderness a few times per year, but up to four tons of garbage have been removed from single sites in the county, Smerekanich said.

Other agencies see evidence of illegal border crossing in the form of litter almost daily.

Alex Howe, a conservation associate at the Sierra Vista branch of the Bureau of Land Management, said the majority of his job consists of picking up trash left by illegal immigrants.

“I easily fill up the truck bed until it’s overflowing each day I go out,” said Howe, who collects trash along the San Pedro River, a known travel corridor for illegal border crossers.

This branch of BLM spends about 60 hours a week on “resource protection,” the official name for cleaning up trash left mostly by illegal border crossers, Howe said.

They find large amounts of trash in washes connected to the river because that’s where illegal border crossers often hide as they wait for rides arranged by coyotes, or smugglers, he said.

Howe said he finds all sorts of garbage.

“The largest quantity is clothes but they leave water bottles, toiletries and empty cans of food,” he said.

Most of the clothes he finds are in bad shape, but on occasion he finds backpacks and clothes that can be donated to charity, Howe said.

In fact, he said he has a raincoat he kept for himself.

Clothes left behind by illegal border crossers may not seem catastrophic, but it actually can be deadly.

When livestock eats trash, such as plastic bags or sweaty and salty clothes, they can die, Smerekanich said.

“I hear about it from ranchers all the time,” Smerekanich said.

Laura Oxley, spokeswomen for Arizona Department of Agriculture said she is also aware of ranchers losing livestock as a result litter left by illegal border crossers, even though ranchers usually will not call the department.

“From a personal perspective it’s disconcerting and disappointing that anybody litters, but it can be difficult to pinpoint,” Oxley said. “You don’t do autopsies on livestock.”

To make matters worse for ranchers, it is not always clear what areas need to be watched so their livestock does not get into trash.

Illegal border crossers change their patterns making it difficult to know where trash is collecting, said Mario Escalante, a Border Patrol agent.

“The old sites are not as bad as they used to be,” said Escalante. “We’re finding trash moving higher up, to hills and mountains. Smugglers are being more careful and policing themselves more.”

Because it is difficult for waste management to keep tabs on trash left out in the desert, cleanup efforts are dependent on nonprofit and volunteer groups, Smerekanich said.

“We had a program where we went out three to four times a year and paid nonprofits like church groups and softball teams,” said Smerekanich.

However, the grant money, supported by former Republican representative Jim Kolbe, ran out.

Still, other groups are willing to help cleanup trash without any compensation.

Ila Abernathy works for a nonprofit group called Samaritans, a group based in Tucson that seeks out illegal border crossers to provide them with food, water and medical aid.

Cleaning up trash is not the primary purpose of the organization but it is something they do, she said.

“It’s changed over the years,” Abernathy said, referring to the places where she finds trash. “As border security tightens, migrants are becoming more discrete and rerouting.”

Still, Abernathy said she comes across trash often looking to aid illegal crossers.

Abernathy recalls once finding an area a quarter of a mile long, with many different items spread about.

“We found almost everything. From backpacks to clothes to English-Spanish translation books to novels with passages highlighted to family photos to diaries to eyelash curlers to baby clothes and baby carriers,” Abernathy said.

“I’ve also found official documents like Mexican identification papers and birth certificates.”

During cleanups Abernathy said she has also met ranchers who will tell her about losing livestock due to eating trash.

“Yes, it is a big problem,” Abernathy said. “But a lot of it is people leaving things out of desperation.

“It’s not just trash.”