CALF_News_December_2021_January_2022

18 CALF News • December 2021 | January 2022 • www.calfnews.net By Larry Stalcup Contributing Editor S outh Texas ranchers regularly see their fences, pastures and farms penetrated by undocumented migrants. Property is damaged and their lives are sometimes threatened. But according to law enforcement and former U.S. Border Patrol officials from the heart of the ever-escalating border crisis, there’s nearly nothing they can do about it. Brad Coe, sheriff of Kinney County, Texas, which borders Mexico about 130 miles west of San Antonio, spoke to ranchers and farmers in Lubbock at an October forum hosted by the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Associa- tion (TSCRA). He emphasized that the border crisis has gone wild. Austin Skero, an investigator for the Border Prosecution Unit in Del Rio, Texas, joined Coe on the program. His accounts of the border crisis were cringeworthy. As anyone with a TV or smart device can attest, the disastrous scenes from the Texas-Mexico border have been horrific. While the majority of those who risk their lives to enter America are people in search of a better place to raise their families, many are also criminals involved in drugs, human trafficking and other heinous activities. Coe and Skero regularly see extraor- dinary pressure from helpless illegals blindly wading waist-deep water to cross the Rio Grande River. Skero said the number of illegals crossing the border has surpassed 2 million since January, after President Joe Biden took office. Some have surrendered their life savings to human trafficking networks. Many have had their lives threatened by unlawful cartels seeking markets for illicit drugs, sex slaves and other criminal intent. “It’s insanity,” Skero lamented. Ranch Property Damaged, Lives Threatened Along with the humanitarian catastro- phe, local Texas ranchers are seeing their properties damaged and their livelihoods threatened. Coe noted that ranchers in the region depend on both cattle produc- tion and hunting leases for income. High fences are needed, but they are often no match for desperate illegals or vans and trucks plowing through them. “Aliens coming through no longer respect ranch property, “ Coe said. “They’re cutting fences. They cut from top to bottom on high fences. Or they cut 4-foot by 4-foot holes so they don’t have to climb over. That destroys the integrity of the fence. Once it is cut and ranchers try to patch it back together, it’s an accident waiting to happen with cattle and wildlife.” If any of these people are caught on private property by law enforcement, they are prosecuted for criminal tres- passing. “We have more than 900 in jail for criminal trespassing,” Coe said. “Gov- ernor Abbott had to open a different prison so we could house these people. We’re doing what we can to try and push them out of the area.” Border Crisis Magnified Rio Grande Valley Fighting Virtually Unwinnable Battles Against Undocumented Migrants Austin Skero, investigator for the Border Prosecution Unit in Del Rio, Texas, said Mexican cartels “take in about $25 million per week in the Del Rio area just moving people.” Brad Coe, sheriff of Kinney County, Texas, fields calls several times a week from ranchers who have had their fences breached by illegal aliens. Whether they’re cutting through fences or racing a pickup through them, violators who are caught are filling up Kinney and other border county jails. “We have more than 900 in jail for criminal trespassing,” Coe said. A South Texas television newscast traces illegals crossing into the United States from Mexico. The humanitarian crisis includes families seeking a better life and criminals involved in human trafficking, drugs and other crimes. Several million have crossed the Rio Grande into Texas this year – and they’re still coming. Photo from www.Kens5.com. Continued on page 20 