paul beeban joins us outside of denver. ul, you have spent a bit of time now reporting on immigrants across the u.s. and mexico border. if you would, boil it down for us. what do we know about this mass prisoner release, and what is the issue at the bottom of this discussion? >> the issue at the bottom of all of this when it comes to immigration and so many other issues on capitol hill and in washington these days is politics. of course, as you mentioned, the republicans came at homeland security secretary jay johnson pretty hard this morning on a range of issues, not just this release of prisoners convicted of various crimes including homicide. 36,000, dhs and ice, the immigrations and customs enforcement agency saying they were released on court orders, following the law despite the fact that some were convicted of violent crimes such as homicide and rape. there are reports that others have gone on to commit other crimes. but what it comes down to is that immigration reform has been stalled in congress for eons it seems no

al jazeera's paul beeban joins us live from salt lake city. paul, what exactly is the point that these ranchers are trying to make here? >> well, good afternoon, morgan. the point they are trying to make is that the federal government, according to them, is intruding on their lifestyle, oppressing them. hear words like tierney tossed around. these people want to use the land the way they see fit, not the way the government sees fit. >> as you hike down into recapture canyon, one of the first things you notice is the silence. >> we are just barrel inside the closu closure. and we have come to our first archeological site. >> all around, there is evidence that ancient native americans called this place home. >> this is what we call an out door museum. it's, you know, it's a special place where there is remains of the past. >> recapture canyon is protected public land administered by the federal bureau of land management or blm. in 2007, the blm closed the canyon to motorized vehicles can something that didn't sit well in the nearby town of blandi