By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Problems with immigrants on ranches in northern Val Verde County were again discussed during Tuesday’s county commissioners court.
The court has kept a regular item on its agenda for most of the year to talk about immigrant issues. During Tuesday’s meeting, the court’s discussion of the issue occurred just minutes after a presentation by Samuel Hall, founder and president of Patriots For America Militia, who had asked the court to endorse the group’s work in Val Verde County.
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. initiated the immigrant discussion, noting, “Again, it’s the same stuff. They keep coming. We heard a presentation a little while ago. We were in Eagle Pass yesterday, and there is more of a presence (of law enforcement) along U.S. Highway 277 in different areas.
“Commissioner Nettleton, you’ve asked the sheriff, for the last three meetings, for more help out past Comstock, and it seems like we need to ask every day, every day, every day, because they go out there, and they’ll spend two or three days and then nobody’s out there. You don’t see a presence like what you see between here and Eagle Pass. You don’t see that out west.
“You see it north, on 277, 377, all the way out to the checkpoint, there’s probably two or three cars stationed out that way, but if you go out on (Highway) 90, once you get past Comstock, there’s just nothing out there,” Owens said.
“It’s becoming a bigger and bigger problem,” County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton agreed.
He referred to a recent incident about which he had called the sheriff.
“The guy was a scout. He was sitting on my front porch at the ranch, charging his cell phone, trying to get directions. I know exactly what he was doing. And every time we bring it up, I know the sheriff makes the call (to the DPS), and the DPS goes from here to Comstock for a couple of days and then we don’t see anything,” Nettleton said.
“And it’s continuing to be a bigger and bigger issue. I’m willing, if the National Guard wants to set up an operation in the county pocket (an area north of Comstock) or whatever, but we’ve got to do something on the north end of the county.
“We have a lot of ranchers up there, and they’re being overrun, and these are not people looking for asylum, by any form or fashion. These are drug runners and human smugglers and everything else. And I know those areas don’t get a lot of publicity, and at the end of the day, we have an issue, we have a problem, and it needs to be dealt with. It’s that simple,” Nettleton said.
“I think what they’re doing – National Guard, DPS, Border Patrol – they’re targeting areas that are more heavily trafficked, which is around the city, along the river, but of course, I see your issue there, commissioner, and I think we need more presence of law enforcement in that area,” County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores agreed.
“We do. The asylum seekers that are walking across the river, that’s a Border Patrol issue, but what I’m concerned about is the human smuggling and drug running. We know they have guns. They’re coming through with guns. You can’t even let your kids ride around on a four-wheeler out there. It’s gotten to the point where it’s ridiculous, is what it’s getting to, and if we’re going to spend $2 billion of state taxpayers’ money, they need to deal with the whole entire problem, not bits and pieces of the problem,” Nettleton said.
“And this isn’t directed at you, sheriff, I know you’re doing your best to do what you can do, but we have a lot of resources down here, they need to look at where they’re going to allocate those resources,” the commissioner added.
Owens said he had heard there was construction starting in the Rio Grande Valley on the latest iteration of a border fence, adding landowners along the Rio Grande in Flores’ Precinct 4 had been receiving calls about construction on their properties.
Flores confirmed Owens’ statement.
“There has been an agent dealing with the property owners in the Vega Verde area, and they’re thinking, well, they’re not thinking, they want a wall, a fence . . .We’re having all kinds of issues,” Flores said.
“We’re just talking right now, conversations, and we’ll see what happens down the road,” the commissioner added.
Nettleton added, “My biggest issue is that just because you’re on the other side of the fence, you should be able to enjoy their property. The line is the center of the river, and that’s where the line is, and the federal government needs to do its damn job and enforce the laws. We shouldn’t be dealing with this issue, and it’s continuing and continuing and continuing.
“While we don’t have a group of 15,000 or 20,000, it doesn’t matter. I noticed they had groups in Arizona and finally the Border Patrol just quit. They were literally walking down the streets to the Border Patrol station to try and give themselves up because the Border Patrol did not show up at the fence. It’s very clear that the administration has completely abandoned the American people on this issue, and we’ll see where it goes,” Nettleton said.
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