By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Two county commissioners sparred verbally during a recent discussion of ranch residents’ problems with illegal immigration and other criminal activity in western Val Verde County.
The discussion took place during the county commissioners court’s most recent meeting Feb. 14 while County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton was updating the court on a meeting he had attended the previous week.
“We had a meeting last week, last Thursday, at the Foster Ranch up by Pumpville. There’s a lot of concerns about immigration issues. The sheriff had Chief (Waylon) Bullard there. DPS was there. Border Patrol. David Martinez, our county attorney, and Suzanne West, our district attorney, were there. Judge (Pat) Cole was there. There were probably about 40 people that showed up that have concerns about immigration issues in the northern end of the county, the western end of the county, with the amount of people that are traveling through there, hauling drugs and everything else,” Nettleton told the court.
“You’ve all heard me talk about this at numerous commissioners court meetings. DPS said they would try to attempt to do a little bit more patrolling. Border Patrol is trying to get a few more people out there. There wasn’t just people from out there. There was people that drove from here in town, that have issues around town, with immigrants on their property and stuff.
“It has become a huge problem, in my opinion, and has been for a while in the western part of the county. Did we solve anything? No. We did have some discussions, and the sheriff, I think, did commit – and correct me if I’m wrong, sheriff – when you get some more deputies out of your schools that you’ll have more people patrolling in that area up there.
“I think the meeting was a good meeting. It gave everybody some insight into the problems, and it gave some insight into the law enforcement issues that they have up there,” Nettleton said.
He turned to County Attorney David Martinez and noted that Martinez “spoke quite a bit about the process on criminal trespassing and how all that works,” and asked Martinez to add to the discussion.
“I do think it was a very productive meeting. It’s always good to be able to communicate. There was some misinformation and some misunderstandings, I think, we were able to clear up through the discussion. Apparently there is a need. I know I spoke to (DPS) Capt. Bettencourt later that afternoon, and I believe the DPS sent a couple of brush teams out there the following two or three days, immediately following the meeting, so there was commitment from law enforcement, both the federal side and the state side, and locals, to give that area a little more attention,” Martinez replied.
“It was a good meeting. There is a problem up there. There’s a lot of land in Val Verde County and not a lot of people and resources to be able to cover all of it. I think out of it came some ways to work through some of it and at least to get some relief to some of the people, not just up there, but here locally, too,” Nettleton added.
County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores said he would like to make a comment.
“We’re talking about a specific area out there in the middle of nowhere, and I don’t know if there’s 10 people living over there. I think law enforcement should concentrate on areas that are populated. If you have 100 troopers working Val Verde County, you’re not going to send 90 of them over there, and leave this area unattended.
“I think it’s a problem. It’s a big problem everywhere, but you’re not going to be able to control it. The state’s doing the best they can, the county, whoever’s involved in this, but there’s no way to stop it, to control it, not even with the fences down there on the border. They’re cutting them. They’re going through there. We see them on a daily basis.
“But I think law enforcement should concentrate on populated areas, where there’s people living, there’s children, there’s families,” Flores said.
“Going onto a ranch that’s 30,000 acres, because there’s a group going through there, just to find them, is going to be hard. I mean, you’ve got the helicopters out there flying all over that place and leaving this place unattended. To me, it don’t make sense, but I just don’t think we should be concentrating over there. There might be some sheep and goats,” Flores added.
“I will tell you, unless it’s affecting you, you really don’t see it,” County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. said.
“It’s affecting everybody, judge,” Flores said.
“I get it, commissioner, but my deal is, when you’re living out there, and you’re out in the middle of nowhere, which you did say, and I’ll agree with you, and you have 10, 20, 30 or a couple hundred (people) running through there, it gets your attention . . . They’re still our citizens, so we still have to take care of them,” Owens said.
“It’s such a big country,” Flores said.
“No, no, I get it, but we still have to look at trying to protect them,” Owens said.
“If you were living out there, and it was your wife and kids being harassed, then it matters. It doesn’t matter if you’re living here in town or if you’re living up there, everybody deserves the right to be protected. That goes with being in America and living under the Constitution. They have the right same as the people who live here in town, to be protected, and their families have the right to be protected, and to think that they’re less just because they live out there than they are here is just the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Nettleton said.
“There’s a lot of wealthy ranchers out there that own ranches just for hunting,” Flores interjected.
“What does money have to do with it?” Nettleton shot back.
“They’re for commercial use, to generate money. Whoever lives out there might be their ranch foreman, and they do live over there. A lot of them just travel on daily basis out there. I am concerned, of course, but how can you compare a handful of families to thousands of families? I’m saying, yes, send somebody out there, but let’s concentrate in the populated areas,” Flores replied.
“My last comment is, I want to thank you all for everything that you all are looking at and helping get done. Commissioner Nettleton, I want to thank you for attending the meeting. I do think . . . we can help them a little bit. We have an obligation, and it doesn’t matter what part of the county you live in, we have an obligation to take care of those individuals,” Owens said.
“This court, during this fiscal year that we’re in right now, we added four more (sheriff’s) deputies, between deputies and individuals in communications, so I want to thank the court also for adding more deputies and trying to help with whatever problem comes up in our county. Thank you all,” Owens said.
“I can tell you, Gus, this wasn’t even in my precinct,” Nettleton started again.
“I know that,” Flores called out.
“It was in your damn precinct, that you don’t give a shit about,” Nettleton snapped.
“I don’t know why you get involved in things that don’t belong to your precinct. Out of courtesy, you should have told me,” Flores retorted.
“You’ve made it very clear that you don’t care about those people up there,” Nettleton said.
“No, I do care about them, but I’m not going to move 100 troopers over there. That’s what I’m getting to. Let’s help them, but we can’t move all our law enforcement over there, and leave the county and the city unattended. That’s my opinion,” Flores said.
Owens thanked the court for the frank discussion.
“I think it’s healthy to get this shit off our chests, and go on,” he said.
The court took no action following the heated discussion.
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