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Southern border safest it's been in 20 years

Texan

Well-known member
Isn't that what President Obama and his Secretary of Homeland Security told us?

===========================


Mexico Border Constant Problem
Plaguing Terrell County Lawmen

By John Bradshaw

SANDERSON — Terrell County may not be the border hotspot in terms of traffic and violence, but Sheriff Clint McDonald and six deputies have their hands full with 2300 square miles of territory and 54 miles of border.

Sheriff McDonald said federal officials tell the public that the border is more secure now than it has ever been.

“I’m here to tell you, that’s not right,” he said.

The sheriff’s office does not work immigration nor patrol the river, but it does regularly work crimes committed by smugglers and illegal aliens.

“We just work the crimes that are committed after they get here,” McDonald said.

Terrell County has no official border crossings, but there are approximately 38 places where people can walk, swim or raft across. The remainder of the river is inside deep, impassable canyons.

The sheriff agreed to give a tour of the county’s border country, which is basically considered to be that south of Highway 90. South of the road the country is much rougher, and few livestock producers are left there.

“Even the jackrabbits and rattlesnakes are packing up and moving out,” McDonald said.

There are still some permanent residents and many hunting camps near the border. The entire county only has about 1200 residents and two towns, Sanderson and Dryden.

McDonald headed east out of Sanderson on Highway 90 to Five Mile Road, and then headed southward. The river is about 22 miles south of the highway there. Further east in Terrell County the river is much closer to the highway.

When the sheriff was first called about a story on the border situation in his county, he almost insisted on a trip to the river. He has a problem with reporters who write about the border without actually visiting it.

He also dislikes politicians who fly from Washington to El Paso or Laredo, step off the plane and give a press conference on the tarmac. When that is over they walk back onto the plane, fly back to Washington and claim they’ve been to the border and everything is great.

“They don’t come to the border. Where we’re going there is no CNN or FOX News, so the politicians won’t go there,” he said.

McDonald talked as he drove down the awful dirt and rock road. There is quite a bit of drug traffic through the county, he said, much more than people think. Approximately 99 percent is marijuana. Because of the terrain and sparse population, most of the smugglers are never seen.

The drug mules ordinarily haul their loads in backpacks up to Highway 90 and stash it nearby. They then call their contacts in Dallas or Houston or wherever with the GPS coordinates and head back for Mexico. The contact drives to the spot, hurriedly loads the dope and is gone.

There are no Border Patrol checkpoints to pass heading north out of Terrell County, so there is a good chance the smugglers can get their loads out without detection.

North of the border, the going rate for marijuana is around $800 per pound, McDonald said. The mules usually carry 50-pound packs, and there are usually four to 12 men in a group.

Sheriff McDonald does not believe legalizing drugs will help the situation along the border, as many others do. Proponents believe it would slow the violence, and the drugs could be taxed.

“The cartels that bring their drugs through here, they’re not going to bring their drugs across and go into Sanderson to the courthouse and say, ‘I want to pay my taxes on these drugs.’

“They’re not going to do it, so that is just a bunch of B.S.,” McDonald said.

The traditional immigrant is not as common now, McDonald said, because of the cartels and the drug violence. The working man cannot cross without paying the cartels, and is often forced into carrying dope.

McDonald said they have encountered smugglers carrying weapons, but there has been no confrontation or gunplay.

“We have seen more guns in the vehicles than we have in the past. It’s getting to the point that these drug runners are so much more desperate,” he said.

The conversation shifted to the outrageous violence that is occurring across the border from Fort Hancock, where innocent citizens are being forced out and burned out by the cartel. McDonald said that if someone tried that in the United States, more armed law enforcement would be there than the cartel could handle. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case in Mexico.

The sheriff believes that the United States will not go into Mexico to fight the cartels as long as Mexico’s government remains in power, and he believes the cartels know it.

“As long as that government is standing, the cartels know that we are not going to go in there and do anything,” he said.

The road led through larger ranches, some high-fenced and stocked with exotics, and closer to the border went into the Sanderson River Ranch, which is broken into tracts of varying sizes and overseen by an association. Hunting shacks and trailers are scattered throughout, empty this time of year, but there are three homes that are permanently occupied. It takes between one and two hours to reach them from Sanderson.

Despite their remote location and proximity to Mexico, McDonald said those residents do not have trouble with the smugglers or illegals. The empty cabins are regularly broken into for water or shelter, though.

McDonald talked about the widespread corruption in Mexico, and the occasional corruption in the United States. He said he hears about it at the Border Patrol level quite a bit. Starr County’s former sheriff was sentenced last year for drug trafficking conspiracy.

While McDonald didn’t discuss details of that case, he did say that lawmen are sometimes put into a situation where they lose, no matter what. He was referring to what is called plata o plomo, silver or lead, where the lawman is given the choice of cash for corruption, or death to them or more likely their family. They can take the money and help, or their wife will be killed.

“So what kind of position does that put a person into?” he asked.

He has never been approached, and he believes a lawman’s life is basically over in that situation, because they lose, whatever their choice. Families cannot be protected around the clock.

Despite the federal government’s assurances that there has not been any spillover violence from Mexico, while bumping down the road McDonald received an update stating that a female had just been abducted in El Paso and had likely been taken to Mexico.

“To me that’s spillover violence,” he said. “But our federal government says no, that’s not.”

He talked of spillover economic impact, where the states foot the bill for illegal aliens and smugglers. He gave as an example the case of nine smugglers who burglarized many homes on their way back to Mexico. The men were arrested about a year ago. It is costing Terrell County taxpayers more than $10,000 per month to hold them for trial, and there are at least several more months to go.

Only eight of the men are still in jail. One came down with a detached retina that required surgery. Instead of the county paying for the surgery, and paying extra deputies to watch over the man in the hospital, he was turned over to the Border Patrol and deported.

“It’s pretty tough to say, but it was an economic factor,” McDonald said.

Some of the county’s citizens think they all should be turned over, so there is no expense, but McDonald said if that happens, people in Mexico will learn that there are no repercussions in Terrell County and begin concentrating on it.

Bodies of Mexicans who die on the trail are found in Terrell County, about one per year. Identifying them costs the county more money. McDonald told of one body, thought to be that of a drug dealer, who had been shot execution style. To identify the body, Mexican authorities were asked for a DNA swab from the woman thought to be the man’s mother. The Mexicans agreed to help, for $5000.

Terrell County is patrolled by only the sheriff’s office, two game wardens and the Border Patrol. There are no city policemen or highway patrolmen in the county. The DPS comes in from time to time on special operations, but none are stationed there.

The sheriff’s office has a good working relationship with the Border Patrol, which McDonald said employs many American heroes. His chief deputy sits in on most of their morning muster calls.

“We all have to work well together out here, out of necessity if nothing else,” he said.

While he works with them and gets along with them, McDonald doesn’t agree with some of the policies the patrolmen must follow. The main one is that they patrol Highway 90 instead of the border, a common complaint.

“So theoretically we have already given this country to Mexico,” he said, gesturing around him.

He reiterated that he doesn’t have anything against the Border Patrol, but said the federal government does not allow them to do their job.

The possibility of terrorists using the southern border troubles McDonald. He said when the next terrorist attack happens, and he believes it will happen, neither he nor any other sheriff wants that bomb traced back to their county.

“If they can bring as much dope as they want through here, then they can bring as many bombs as they want to through here.”

Terrell County is the weak link along the border, as far as security goes, believes McDonald. He explained this is the result of the low law enforcement presence, and the fact that the county has the lowest crime rate of all the border counties. Law enforcement there, while vigilant, is not in red alert mode. It would be easier for something big to come through the county than through some of the others.

“Like any other sheriff out here on the border, I do not want it to be all over FOX and CNN that the bomb that blew up a school came right through Terrell County. Those are the things that keep me up at night,” he said.

After almost becoming stuck a couple of times, McDonald finally reached the end of the road, which ended literally at the edge of a canyon with the Rio Grande below. Some unknown person had installed a stop sign right at the edge, perhaps as a joke or possibly to keep automobiles from driving right off the edge.

South of Terrell County, Mexico has no resident human population, which McDonald said benefits his county. A small shack could be seen at the base of one of the mountains. The sheriff thought perhaps it was abandoned or might be used as a staging point for smugglers.

The nearest Mexican city is Acuna, which is where the smugglers come from. McDonald has photos taken from the air that show new roads in Mexico, built to connect the illegal crossings to existing roads. In some cases the roads lead up to a lookout point, then down to the crossing, so the smugglers can look over the opposition before they cross.

Looking out over the mountains of Mexico, McDonald talked about the United States fighting the War on Terror on the other side of the globe.

“And some of the most ruthless, violent terrorists to ever walk on the face of this earth are within 50 miles of us right now. And our federal government is not going to do a thing about it.”



http://www.livestockweekly.com/
 

Texan

Well-known member
Well, I guess that Texas sheriff isn't the only dumbass that doesn't realize how safe it is down there. The USDA inspectors at some of the border crossings are even scared to go to work. And three out of five of those crossings are closed to livestock trade because of it.

This idiot USDA area vet needs to call Janet Napolitano and get some personal reassurance about the safety:

“It’s a war zone down there, and it’s hard to regulate anything in a war zone.”

====================================

Industry, Government Continue
To Work On Border Crossing Plan

By Colleen Schreiber

AUSTIN — Texas has five land border ports through which livestock trade with Mexico occurs. Those ports are located in Pharr, Laredo, Eagle Pass, Del Rio and Presidio. However, three of the five are now closed due to border violence brought on by the Mexican drug war. The only two permanent facilities that remain open are those at Del Rio and Presidio. While not perfect, temporary adjustments have been made for the other border crossings.

Kevin Varner, area veterinarian-in-charge of USDA-APHIS-VS, offered an update on the port situation during the recent Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association fall board meeting here. Speaking during the fever tick committee meeting, Varner told listeners that despite the difficulties, the number of feeder cattle imported through Texas ports through August is actually up 44 percent compared to this time last year. The Santa Teresa, New Mexico port, he said, showed no increase.

“Basically, we’ve shifted cattle from the south to the west. Numbers, to date, are up in Eagle Pass, Del Rio and at Presidio,” said Varner.

He outlined the events that led up to the port closures. First, though, he pointed out that Texas ports are different from any other land border ports in the country.

“In New Mexico and Arizona, cattle walk across the border. In Texas we have the Rio Grande River that prevents that.”

Furthermore, the inspection pens, which up until recently have always been in Mexico, are anywhere from three to 18 miles from the border.

Problems first arose in Laredo. Last year beginning in November, Varner said, government vehicles were stopped more frequently, as many as several times a week. Often government employees were pulled out of their vehicles and searched, as were the vehicles.

“The final straw for me,” Varner told listeners, “came in February in Reynosa. Our government guys were caught between two armed groups. The safeties were off the weapons. We were able to get out of that without any kind of firefight, but the reality struck home that it wasn’t getting better.”

Thus in March USDA-VS personnel stopped servicing the ports in Pharr and Laredo, and in June they stopped servicing the Eagle Pass port. When they pulled out of Eagle Pass the U.S. State Department informed them they could not go back.

“The way it works is when we go into a foreign country as a federal employee, we are under the auspices of the U.S. State Department; they call the shots,” Varner explained.

At that point, to continue trade with Mexico, USDA implemented a three-phase plan. The first phase involved finding facilities on Texas soil. One of the criteria was that the facilities had to be in the permanent fever tick quarantine zone. The phase one facility in Laredo, he noted, is actually at the tick inspection pens.

“The main thing was that we wanted this to be a short-term solution,” Varner told listeners. “These facilities aren’t adequate to support trade, especially coming into the fall run.”

Phase two, which Varner projected will last between 12 to 18 months, involves USDA leasing facilities on the U.S. side. The facilities are to be approved for all the appropriate biosecurity measures which, in part, mean there is to be a “dirty” side and a “clean” side, with separate loading and unloading facilities. These facilities are to have enough capacity to handle the fall run.

Phase three, Varner said, involves the industry working together to come up with a permanent solution.

“I remain convinced that in order for trade to thrive, buyers and sellers have to be comfortable with the framework,” he told listeners. “The industry said okay to phase one through three, but they also voiced concern that there was no option for looking back. They wanted us to continue safety assessments, and they wanted us to develop measurable criteria for getting back into Mexico.”

The industry also asked that USDA consider contract employees or hiring Mexican nationals with various levels of oversight to conduct the inspections.

“We are looking into that, but it’s not my preferred route, frankly,” remarked Varner. “The contract employee is a problem because we’re still responsible for them and the State Department will not go along with that.”

As of today, the crossing point at Del Rio and the one at Presidio remain open, and USDA continues to do security reviews, though Varner said no improvement is expected in the near future.

“We have some issues at Del Rio,” Varner said. “We do not have enough water and the facilities just aren’t that good, and with the fall run coming, we’re not sure we will be able to handle all of the cattle.”

They’ve moved to a phase two facility in Laredo. The two-acre facility is located at the old county dipping vat site in Webb County.

“It’s functional, not fancy. It has no bells and whistles, but we have good biosecurity, and we can move cattle through there — more than we could move in our temporary facility,” Varner noted. “We have the capacity to run 600 to 700 head a day.”

There are still some structural problems, Varner added. The big one is that Mexican cattle do not begin arriving at the temporary facility until about 11 a.m. at the earliest, and that limits their ability to move more cattle through the facility.

In the past, when the facility was still in Mexico, officials could handle all the cattle moving through this port by being open two days a week. To compensate for the potential backlog during the fall run, Varner said they’re considering having the port open additional days.

Another option, one which the industry prefers, is to run the facility overnight.

“If we had 400 head there ready to go at 8 a.m., then we could start working those cattle before anything new comes in,” Varner noted. “So now we’re working from eight to five p.m., and at 100 to 120 head per hour we could easily get to that 1000-head capacity.”

Broker acceptance at the Laredo facility, Varner said, has been “lukewarm.” Numbers crossed through this port are down to around 26,000 head to date compared to 34,000 last year. He’s hopeful that once they get the kinks worked out for the phase two facility, more cattle will cross here rather than go west as they’ve done of late.

At the Pharr crossing USDA continues to operate from the phase one facility. However, USDA has leased 1.5 acres adjacent to the phase one facility, and Varner was in the process of choosing from one of five contracts to build receiving pens. Once the contractor is chosen they have 30 days to finish the work, he said.

“So the plan is that by late October, early November we will have a functional phase two facility with the capacity to run 800 to 1000 head per day.”

Pharr remains the preferred crossing point for cattle going to South Texas, and broker acceptance at this port, Varner said, has been okay.

“Broker acceptance has been okay because the economics are such that if you’re moving cattle to South Texas, it doesn’t make any sense to shift to a port further west.”

At Eagle Pass USDA is also close to leasing the old Amistad feedyard, located just across the road from the permanent tick quarantine zone. It will serve as an “insurance policy” should the situation at the Del Rio port worsen to the point that it, too, must be closed.

“This thing in Mexico is fluid,” commented Varner. “Right now we can get into Acuña no problem, but I can’t tell you next week if we’ll be able to get in there.”

The facility is already fairly well equipped with cattle scale, truck scale and a dipping vat, and Varner is in the process of gathering bids to retrofit it so that it will meet all biosecurity standards.

“We plan to start cutting metal next week,” Varner told listeners. “The plan is to have it up and running, perhaps not completed, but running, by mid-October.

“We can run a lot of cattle through this facility,” he continued, “but I also realize that we may build it and nobody may come. Folks are going to continue to want to use Acuña as much as they can, because that’s what they’re familiar with.”

Varner wrapped up with some additional thoughts on the phase three plan.

“How do we get to a permanent solution, and what does it look like? Frankly, my preference is what we have now, which is a private facility where we do the regulatory work, and they take care of running the place.

“However, the industry, both the U.S. industry and the Mexican industry, wants to see a permanent solution in Mexico. They’ve made it clear from day one, and no one has wavered from that.”

Progress, however, has been slow, he said.

“The Mexican industry has been reluctant to give up their present pens. The facility across from Eagle Pass was a state of the art facility, so it’s understandable why they would be hesitant to build a new one.”

That said, in mid-October Varner and Undersecretary Ed Avalos are scheduled to meet with Mexican officials and cattlemen who are interested in building a new facility near the Columbia bridge crossing.

“I understand that if we accept a new location, we accept it based on the idea that we are going to service it come hell or high water, which means I have to be able to get my guys in and out no matter what happens in Mexico,” Varner remarked.

Despite the desire to move forward, in general, the industry on both sides of the border has more of a “let’s wait and see” attitude.

“To me trade needs predictability,” stated Varner. “For us to prosper, for the industry to prosper, buyers and sellers need to know how this is going to work. Who controls the cattle scale, who controls the truck scale? Are our guys going to weigh, is it payweight or will we weigh at the cattle scale? And, there’s the issue of shrink, so there are a lot of issues in play, and that doesn’t help. That’s why most have shifted to Acuña and Presidio,” he opined. “That’s what they know and that’s what they’re comfortable with. They don’t know what’s going to happen if they go to Eagle Pass.”

Varner closed by reiterating his opinion that the long-term success of the industry depends on finding some kind of permanent and stable solution.

“It’s a war zone down there, and it’s hard to regulate anything in a war zone,” he concluded.



http://www.livestockweekly.com/
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Thanks for the great article Texan. A great amount of "hands on experience" and insight on the part of Sheriff McDonald.

Unfortunately you have a whole bunch of acedemics in DC that are more educated and experienced in this matter and know how to solve the problem.

:roll:
 
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