By Karen Gleason
COMSTOCK – Ranchers gathered in the Community Center here Wednesday to share stories of property damage and fear being caused by waves of immigrants trespassing on their lands.
Local landowners and ranchers were asked to share their stories with two Wisconsin elected leaders and other visitors.
Rancher Dell Dickinson said no one objects to legal immigration, adding legal immigration is one of the things that made the United States great.
“But we’re losing the sovereignty of our country, and . . . I have no faith in our elected officials,” Dickinson said.
Rancher Jim Perry, who is also the current president of the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association, said, “I’m hearing from a lot of our members that there are high-speed chases that are ending up in Uvalde, Ozona and Sonora, and that’s 100 miles away from the border. . . We ranch in Val Verde, Kinney and Edwards counties, and we’ve had fences run through three different times in high-speed chases.”
Perry also said someone – likely an immigrant – burned down a $30,000 barn on his property.
“It wasn’t a malicious act. Someone stopped over in there to cook and spend the night, and the fire got away from them or they didn’t put it out,” he said.
“These are the issues you can see. What about the issues we don’t see, the humanitarian issues? What happens to those people who come up through Mexico? Those women, those young girls? What happens to the kids when they leave those detention centers? Half the country does not know what’s going on, I guarantee you,” Perry said.
He also offered the elected Republican leaders some advice.
“Do not say, ‘Just go back to Trump’s policies.’ That is a non-starter. That man is hated so much by the people that pull the strings for Biden. They’re going to have to re-think things,” Perry added.
Rancher Missi Baird, who said she lives on a 20,000-acre ranch off U.S. Highway 163 north of Comstock, said, “I’ve got a little goat and sheep operation, and normally I’m real comfortable out there by myself. But lately at night, I’m seeing flashlights, and I go down in the creek beds, and I’m finding where somebody lit a fire.”
“It’s not a comfortable position to be in. I’m supposed to be retired and really enjoying my life. What is it that I’ve got going on out here? It’s just not right . . . They’ve caught Chinese people on my property, and that was a little bit freaky,” Baird said.
Patrick Zuberbueler, whose family ranches in Val Verde County, told a story of encountering a young immigrant man in Comstock who needed help.
“I learned that, as in many of these situations, they come over in groups and if you can’t keep up, you’re going to be left behind,” he said, noting he had called the Border Patrol to come help the young man and adding that all lives are precious.
Bill Zuberbueler, who has ranched in Val Verde County all his life and who is an elected board member of the Comstock Independent School District, called the current immigrant surge “an invasion.”
A woman whose family ranches in the Comstock area along the Rio Grande said she and a relative usually go to the river several times a week.
“We had to quit going. Both of us carry (firearms). Both of us are licensed to carry, but we don’t go anymore. Luckily, they (immigrants) haven’t burned our barn, but they’ve tagged the barn. We’ve caught them on cameras . . . What’s going to happen to our family ranch?” she said.
Susan Goble, another resident, asked, “What about our lives, our liberty, our pursuit of happiness? What about that? It seems like it’s always all about everybody else, but what about when our lives are in danger? We’re American citizens. I thought the government was about the security of the American people. We’re hard-working people paying our taxes, and what are we getting from it? We can’t even enjoy our place anymore. We have to carry guns now and be in fear of our lives. That’s what I’m frustrated with. I feel helpless.”
Another Comstock community member said he was “really concerned” about the number of high-speed chases, adding he wasn’t sure of the benefit of those chases.
Crockett County Sheriff Antonio Alejandro told the group his deputies try to stop high-speed chases before they go into the community.
Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Waylon Bullard said it was the policy of the sheriff’s office not to engage in high-speed chases in most instances. He said, however, the sheriff’s office cannot control the policies of other law enforcement agencies.
Bullard also emphasized that state, county and local law enforcement officers can’t enforce federal laws.
