NM rancher concerned with border safety, video report

State police, sheriff's departments and federal agents have stepped up their patrols along the U.S.'s border with Mexico, but residents in the region are still concerned about safety. On Saturday, an Arizona rancher was murdered near the state line and New Mexico's boot heel. Like many farmers and ranchers living along the border, James Johnson has warned for years that lives were in danger. "My father was held up at gunpoint in '91. And it's always been in the back of our minds that another tragedy could happen," Johnson said. "We're here 24 hours a day. You know, these border patrol guys, they come to work and they are gone in 10 hours." A collection of low steel pipes is all there is to the border with Mexico. It's easily penetrated by drug smugglers, aliens and other ne'er-do-wells. "State game and fish has a lot of problems with some of the fencing designs because of wildlife moving back and forth. At what time do we say, you know what, National Security is more important than wildlife," Johnson said...more

Here is the KRQE video report by Bob Martin