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Texas Agriculture Archive
January 20, 2006
Southern exposure
South Texas landowners inundated by criminal element illegally entering the U.S. from Mexico...
Part 1 of a Two-Part Series
By Lana Robinson
Field Editor
Especially since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the ease with which people illegally cross over into Texas from Mexico and the high numbers entering have become increasingly worrisome. Many South Texas landowners, who in the past have not felt particularly threatened by immigrants coming here to seek work, no longer feel safe in their own homes and on their own properties. Drug and human trafficking are occupying a big portion of local law enforcement officials' time and draining limited resources. Ranchers are growing weary of vandalism, theft, littering, cut fences and roaming livestock. Some feel they are witnessing an erosion of the American way of life due to illegals burdening the nation's health care and education systems. What's worse is many believe the federal government has failed in its most fundamental duty to its citizens—to protect and defend its borders. They say what was once a trickle of illegal immigrants slipping through is now an endless invasion that is endangering the very security of the nation.
"I have lived here 22 years on this road," says Goliad County rancher Vincent Heard. "We've always had a few people coming through. I grew up with it. Now we have one or two carloads daily and a caravan at night. What happened on 9/11 got everyone realizing how vulnerable we are. So national security is my first concern. My second gripe is personal security. You have these people walking all over the country at night time. And some are aggressive. They have broken into camps around here and tried to steal a vehicle. There's sure enough a gangster movement, the underworld, and human trafficking is involved. These are dangerous people."
Heard says those engaged in the illegal activities have a sophisticated network throughout the region.
"These illegals have cell phones, Nextel, and friends and informants in Goliad who actually leave them food and water at various locations to aid them when they arrive," he says. "The Border Patrol needs to stop them at the border...More Border Patrol are needed. They are overworked and underpaid."
Texas most popular gateway
According to their own statistics, Border Patrol agents apprehended 1.2 million illegal aliens during its last fiscal year ending in September 2005. In South Texas alone, agents caught 137,083 migrants and arrested 2,048 smugglers, with perhaps as many as 1 million illegal immigrants successfully entering from the nation's southern border last year.
The Texas border is by far the most popular area for illegal crossing by those classified as "other than Mexicans" by the U.S. government. The U.S. has a deportation agreement for returning immigrants to Mexico, but those caught here from other nations without deportation agreements are turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Because immigration detention centers are full, these illegals are routinely released and told to report back for a deportation hearing. The freed intruders simply slip into the population and never appear for the hearing.
"I would say 10 percent at most are people from Mexico. The rest are a makeup of people from Central and South America," says Victoria County Sheriff T. Michael O'Connor, who polices the "fatal funnel," a main thoroughfare for illegals traveling Highways 59 and 77, en route to Houston. "There have even been some from the Middle East, Russia, and China. The U.S. border with Mexico is not a free border, but south of that, all borders are open borders. People come into various ports in Central and South America, and they find their way here. Their main means of transportation today is rail. They get to the Texas border and then find their way via a trafficking issue. They pay thousands and thousands of dollars to get to the Houston area."
Migrants from South America may pay up to $5,000 to smugglers, or "coyotes," for passing into the United States. The going rate for Mexicans who live closer is up to $1,000 each.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the breakdown of illegal immigrants from the top 10 countries (other than Mexico) apprehended on the southern U.S. border, January through July 11, 2005, are as follows: Honduras, 36,118; Brazil, 27,396; El Salvador, 27,317; Guatemala, 14,866; Nicaragua, 2,498; Cuba, 2,144; China, 1,653; Ecuador, 989; Dominican Republic, 969; and Costa Rica, 700. The Congressional Research Service report offers no explanation for the epidemic, which mostly impacts Texas.
Possible portal for terrorists
"The reasons for this dramatic increase, and its geographical concentration in Texas, are not altogether clear," said the Sept. 22 report. But the study suggested several possibilities:
—The vast southern land border may be the best option, since 9/11 prompted tightened security measures at U.S. airports and other official entry points
—The U.S. Border Patrol has become more successful in apprehending the border-crossers.
—Organized human smuggling rings may be increasing in number and sophistication.
—People are entering illegally to avoid having to comply with more restrictive rules and procedures for getting student and other U.S. visas
Many immigration and national-security experts are worried that the 2,000-mile border stretching from Texas to California could—or may have already—become a revolving door for terrorists.
"The possible proliferation of smuggling organizations along the Texas border specializing in bringing drugs and human beings into the United States is clearly of concern to Congress, and presents an ever-present threat to homeland security," the study said.
In an effort to draw attention to the influx of illegal immigrants, 23 Texas Democratic and Republican congressmen, in September, declared a symbolic "state of emergency" for the Texas-Mexico border. They appealed to President Bush to help their region.
Sheriff O'Connor confirmed that criminals are coming in waves, mostly in an area south of I-10.
"What we are seeing is an alarmingly increasing number are people involved in criminal activities. They're more aggressive as they approach you, even to the point where we had some incidences where they tried to take over vehicles from a rancher and a person in the oil field business. When you are confronted by 25 people, you're outnumbered. They make an attempt to take this vehicle because they've been afoot for some distance. They seem to be wise, and go to a destination and then abandon it. The probability of being caught is low at best.
"We see increased criminal backgrounds," O'Connor claims. "Right now, what we're doing, wherever we detain them, we fingerprint them. We do a state and national background check. We cannot check internationally. We have even captured individuals who are wanted in the U.S., and apparently left to go south across the border, and decided the coast was clear, and came back into the United States. And it is not just human trafficking. We're dealing with narcotics issues, weapons issues, and currency going back to Mexico and Central America."
O'Connor says landowners are afraid to let their kids go fishing or horseback riding and some no longer go out by themselves to check their cattle operations.
"Individuals down here are carrying firearms for protection. They are getting concealed weapon licenses for fear they may be confronted by these individuals, of the aggressive nature, coming across their country," he reports.
Sympathizers cry 'racism'
A steady stream of invaders—up to 100 each night—cross South Texas rancher Mike Vickers' property, nine miles south of Falfurrias, cutting fences, vandalizing outbuildings, and strewing trash everywhere. Vickers was so fed up with the problem, and the failure of the federal government to do anything about it, that he invited the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps to his ranch for a month-long vigil in October. Although the Border Patrol failed to capture most of the immigrants spotted by the volunteer force, it brought attention to the problem.
But the Minutemen were not welcomed by all. In September, Cameron County officials passed a resolution opposing citizen border patrols, citing respect for immigrants, confidence in federal law enforcement and a shared history with Mexico. The resolution against "the presence of Minutemen or other vigilante groups" passed unanimously during a meeting of the Cameron County Commissioners Court in Brownsville. The language stated: "The safe and legal passage of immigrants and foreign visitors to Cameron County is important to the civic life of our county. The future growth of Cameron County depends on the continued good will of our brothers in Mexico."
The resolution highlights the debate between those who view attempts to th-wart illegal entry as a racial issue rather than a security issue. Sheriff O'Connor and Vincent Heard both say area landowners don't want to speak out for fear of repercussion from sympathizers in local communities who don't seem to understand the danger posed by the new element that is infiltrating the border.
"At first we thought these were individuals wanting to make money, so they started smuggling people in," says O'Connor. "What we found is that only a handful of organizations are trafficking these individuals—trafficking in a general sense because they're involved and associated with gang activities. They're dealing with narcotics trafficking, they're dealing with human smuggling, they're extorting these people, and kidnapping these people—all for financial gain. People should be quite concerned of what might happen in their communities."
Heard agrees. He says, "Documented laborers—we need them. They need us. Undocumented, we do not need. There are laws on the books that need to be obeyed and enforced."
State and national farm groups are calling for a guest worker program, bringing legal workers across the border to work in agriculture. The American Farm Bureau Federation says failure to create such a program would be a severe economic blow to agriculture.
Desperate landowners are calling for everything from more funding for border enforcement to authorizing local law enforcement to act as border patrol to erecting a wall between the U.S. and Mexico to stationing U.S. troops along the border. The second part of the article will explore those options.
