Ronnie Osburn was preparing to talk to National Review Online Thursday about lawlessness in his border community when his home was broken into.
Osburn, a rancher who lives just south of a Border Patrol checkpoint in Brooks County, Texas, says he stepped away for about 45 minutes, and when he returned somebody had trashed his house. The trespassers shattered his gun case, leaving a trail of blood throughout the house, but dropped the guns near the kitchen before scattering out the back door. They had searched through the house, opened drawers, and even left a heap of uncooked bacon in a frying pan on the stove.
Ranchers in South Texas say they are seeing a greater criminal element among illegal immigrants trespassing through their property. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers responded to the situation. Although no arrests have been made, a Brooks County sheriff’s deputy tells National Review Online the break-in involved “undocumented crossers.” At one point a Border Patrol agent said he thought the trespassers had been spotted about a half-mile north of the ranch, headed in the same direction as the Border Patrol checkpoint near Falfurrias...
Other ranchers tell me that the amount of OTM — other than Mexican — traffic is increasing in South Texas, and that the disposition of the travelers has grown more hostile. Ranchers say the immigrants who reach Brooks County are ready to fight.
Mike Vickers, a doctor who lives on a ranch a few miles north on the opposite side of the Border Patrol checkpoint, says he has had his home broken into too. He says that one week, he had to pull his gun three times. Two of those times, he says, he wasn’t sure whether or not he’d have to pull the trigger.
“We’re fighting a war here and we’ve been fighting it a long time,” Mike Vickers says. “These people we’re encountering here are combative.”...
The dogs have also been known to recover the remains of illegal immigrants who don’t survive the elements while traveling across the ranch. Several years ago, the dogs brought Linda Vickers the decomposing head of an unidentified woman. Mike Vickers says he almost ran over the body of a dead Salvadoran while driving along his fence line, and he says people who succumb to the heat may have horrifying experiences.
“Birds have a tendency, the caracaras, to get after their eyes sometimes even when they’re comatose and not dead yet,” he says about a man who bled out through his eyes over his chest. “We see a lot of that.”
Nearly 250 bodies have been recovered in Brooks County since 2012, says Benny Martinez, chief deputy of the Brooks County Sheriff’s Department. He says once you’ve reached Brooks County, there’s no turning back...
He says the vegetation is thick during the summer, but will thin out during the fall months, which will allow more bodies to be found...
“The people [illegal-immigrant trespassers] are not a mile from us and they [Border Patrol] pulled out of here, pulled off,” Osburn says. “Why catch them if they’re just going to turn them loose? Why go through all the bulls**t?”...
Osburn, a rancher who lives just south of a Border Patrol checkpoint in Brooks County, Texas, says he stepped away for about 45 minutes, and when he returned somebody had trashed his house. The trespassers shattered his gun case, leaving a trail of blood throughout the house, but dropped the guns near the kitchen before scattering out the back door. They had searched through the house, opened drawers, and even left a heap of uncooked bacon in a frying pan on the stove.
Ranchers in South Texas say they are seeing a greater criminal element among illegal immigrants trespassing through their property. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers responded to the situation. Although no arrests have been made, a Brooks County sheriff’s deputy tells National Review Online the break-in involved “undocumented crossers.” At one point a Border Patrol agent said he thought the trespassers had been spotted about a half-mile north of the ranch, headed in the same direction as the Border Patrol checkpoint near Falfurrias...
Other ranchers tell me that the amount of OTM — other than Mexican — traffic is increasing in South Texas, and that the disposition of the travelers has grown more hostile. Ranchers say the immigrants who reach Brooks County are ready to fight.
Mike Vickers, a doctor who lives on a ranch a few miles north on the opposite side of the Border Patrol checkpoint, says he has had his home broken into too. He says that one week, he had to pull his gun three times. Two of those times, he says, he wasn’t sure whether or not he’d have to pull the trigger.
“We’re fighting a war here and we’ve been fighting it a long time,” Mike Vickers says. “These people we’re encountering here are combative.”...
The dogs have also been known to recover the remains of illegal immigrants who don’t survive the elements while traveling across the ranch. Several years ago, the dogs brought Linda Vickers the decomposing head of an unidentified woman. Mike Vickers says he almost ran over the body of a dead Salvadoran while driving along his fence line, and he says people who succumb to the heat may have horrifying experiences.
“Birds have a tendency, the caracaras, to get after their eyes sometimes even when they’re comatose and not dead yet,” he says about a man who bled out through his eyes over his chest. “We see a lot of that.”
Nearly 250 bodies have been recovered in Brooks County since 2012, says Benny Martinez, chief deputy of the Brooks County Sheriff’s Department. He says once you’ve reached Brooks County, there’s no turning back...
He says the vegetation is thick during the summer, but will thin out during the fall months, which will allow more bodies to be found...
“The people [illegal-immigrant trespassers] are not a mile from us and they [Border Patrol] pulled out of here, pulled off,” Osburn says. “Why catch them if they’re just going to turn them loose? Why go through all the bulls**t?”...
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