EAGLE PASS, Texas — Residents are sharing their growing frustrations with the lack of federal response to the border crisis.
One resident, whose property sits between the Rio Grande and the local railroad freight yard, says her family deals with migrants crossing through their property at all times. Dora says see fears for her family’s safety every time they leave the house. She also worries about break-ins and property damage.
To monitor her property, which sits on several acres outside of town, her husband installed game cameras. “Now we see everyone that walks through the property, we thought it was bad, but now we realize it’s much worse than what we thought,” she said.
Her husband is a Border Patrol agent and is all too familiar with the problem. Dora says her husband works round the clock and the family must fend for themselves once he leaves the house. She says the migrants on her property are not the family units intending to surrender.
Their property is traversed by migrants, mostly single adult males, intent on escaping detection and arrest. Dora says this is the most dangerous group of people to have around. “They move faster and include some who have criminal backgrounds that won’t hesitate to hurt someone, in one case this year, we found out that one of the people on the ranch was a convicted murderer,” she argues.
Living outside the incorporated limits of the city, she must rely on the Border Patrol or the local sheriff’s department to respond to trespasses. “Most Border Patrol agents are busy responding to large groups surrendering in the city and others are tied up processing. There is no one to respond and no promises made because of the volume of people they are dealing with, it’s frustrating and we are at our wit’s end,” she told Breitbart Texas.
Dora says the local sheriff’s department has too few deputies to cover an enormous county where everyone is asking for help. “It just doesn’t even make sense to call anymore.”
The problem began shortly after January and immigration policies were changed. “We rarely saw anyone walking through the property in years past, now there are few days or nights when we don’t,” she added.
She provided photos from her game cameras which groups of migrants moving through her property to the railyard. She posts the photos on her social media account, hoping someone can help bring attention to the problem. She does not believe even widespread awareness will force the federal government to address the issue.
Walter, a local rancher whose family has lived in the area for nearly a century, is a retired Border Patrol agent. He is all too familiar with migrants moving across the brush land but is shocked at the volume. “It used to be, every once in a while, I would spot one or two moving near the railroad tracks, now it’s dozens and almost daily.”
Walter’s main worry is damage to fences which may lead to escaped livestock. As a rancher, he is liable for any accidents on the roads if cattle he owns are struck by vehicles. Another cattleman is dealing with the environmental impact of hundreds of migrants crossing through his property. The debris left behind is overwhelming the ranch’s operations.
The rancher provided video of the environmental damage taken from a helicopter during a wild game survey. The rancher says most of each day’s labor is spent repairing fences and water systems servicing animal life. Little time is left for typical operations and improvements. He says migrants often break water pipes connected to livestock tanks—exposing animal life to deadly dehydration.
The Border Patrol has significantly reduced routine patrols to provide humanitarian care to thousands of migrants entering the country daily. Local and state authorities are stepping in to assist the residents but do not have the personnel to be everywhere at once.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
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