By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton said Tuesday the western and northern portions of Val Verde County have been “abandoned” by state and federal law enforcers and are being overrun by persons who have crossed the Texas-Mexico border illegally.
Nettleton initially made his comments during Tuesday’s session of Val Verde County Commissioners Court.
“The northern and western part of the county, I’m not seeing, basically, any law enforcement. No National Guard, no Border Patrol, no nothing, and they’re getting completely overrun by people,” Nettleton said, addressing his comments to Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez.
“I spoke to DPS, and they said they were going to start moving some folks into that area. Right now, they’re going to be moving some people to be able to stop the flow from entering into Kinney County and into Maverick County, to relieve that, and they’re also going to be moving some out west,” Martinez replied.
“In the beginning there was a lot of DPS, but now there’s nothing. There’s no Border Patrol, there’s nothing out there, and there’s a lot of traffic moving across that area, through Langtry, Pumpville, Pandale. There’s a lot of traffic,” Nettleton said.
“We don’t see them, but we find the water bottles. You can tell they’ve been there, because they’re leaving plastic water bottles all over the ranch,” County Commissioner Pct. 1 Martin Wardlaw, adding he was speaking of the Loma Alta area in north-central part of the county.
“I’ll relay the message,” Martinez replied.
Nettleton elaborated on his concerns in an interview with the 830 Times on Friday.
“What has happened is the concentration of law enforcement around Del Rio has left a vacuum in the western and northern parts of this county and even farther out west, and the cartels and the smugglers have figured out that it’s pretty much wide open out there, so what you see is a large influx of people coming across the river west of here, going up north through all these ranches, these rural areas where there is limited law enforcement,” Nettleton said.
The commissioner pointed out Border Patrol agents are pinned in population centers like Del Rio “by the issue of people who are crossing and giving themselves up” that they no longer have the personnel to patrol those outlying areas the way they once did.
“You don’t see near the agents you once did. Of course at the checkpoint in Comstock there are people, but years ago, before all this, you’d drive those back roads and there were Border Patrol agents almost everywhere. That doesn’t exist anymore,” Nettleton said.
The commissioner, who grew up in Val Verde County and who ranches in the northern part of the county, said, “When DPS first got here, you saw a lot of them out west, but you’re not seeing that anymore either, because they’re concentrating on dealing with these groups that are coming across, so it leaves a vacuum up there.”
“I was up in Pandale the other day, and we drove up on a guy, an illegal, that was there and the group he was with had left him, and he had no water, no food, no nothing. So I called the sheriff to get somebody up there to pick him up,” the commissioner said.
He said he found the man near the intersection of the Pandale and Fieldner roads.
“Then we drove about five miles up the road and sitting on the side of the road was an abandoned vehicle with temporary plates, all the windows busted out, which most likely was a smuggling vehicle, and something went wrong with it, something broke, and they left it,” Nettleton said.
“When you talk to the landowners up there, they see a lot of people crossing . . . and then as you go farther out west, by Pumpville, those areas, what they’re doing is they’re crossing between Langtry and Pumpville, following that road that goes up from Pumpville across and then coming out through the river and heading up to Ozona or cutting across and going up through Sheffield,” he said.
He said the same issues plague neighboring Terrell County.
“With the river not flowing that deep, it’s easy to cross, so we need a law enforcement presence there. They’re cutting people’s fences, breaking their water lines, breaking into their homes. It’s becoming a huge issue. It’s no longer safe for people up in that part of the world,” Nettleton charged.
He said the persons making their way across western Val Verde County aren’t the same as those crossing the Rio Grande just south of Del Rio and surrendering to the first person they see in an official-looking uniform.
“A lot of these people (in western Val Verde County) are moving drugs, smuggling individuals,” Nettleton said.
He said there are also border crossers in that area who just don’t realize how dangerous the landscape can be.
“That country is very, very unforgiving, and if you don’t know where water’s located, you can get in trouble pretty quickly. Years ago, lots of people lived out on those ranches, and people crossing could stop and get food. That doesn’t exist that much anymore, so if you don’t know where you’re going – most of the smugglers, they have a route, so they know how to get around – but if you’re crossing and you don’t know, you’re going to find yourself out there without food or water, and it’s hundreds of miles to the next town. God knows how many people haven’t made it that no one even knows about,” he said.
Nettleton said landowners in northern and western Val Verde County “are scared and concerned.”
“They’re not comfortable on their own places anymore,” he said.
“There’s people walking across their ranches, cutting their fences, breaking their water lines to get water, leaving gates open, breaking into houses to get food, water, whatever they can get, and it’s becoming a common occurrence, because there are such large numbers of people crossing,” Nettleton said.
The same type of things happened in the past, the commissioner said.
“It’s always been an issue, but it was a small issue, and there was enough of a law enforcement presence, that it was fairly easy to deal with. Occasionally, you’d have someone come in the house and take some food or whatever, but it wasn’t a common occurrence. Now, they see people every single day,” Nettleton said.
He characterized the immigrant camp under the Del Rio International Bridge in September as “an asylum problem.”
The issues occurring on the ranches now are a law enforcement problem.
“These are people who won’t qualify for asylum. These are people who are moving drugs and humans into this country,” he said.
Nettleton said he is also worried that the wide-open country of western Val Verde County is the perfect place for prospective foreign terrorists to enter the United States unchecked and unchallenged.
“As we continue to focus our resources around these communities where it’s good publicity, we continue to create ourselves a problem in these rural areas. Once you leave west of the lake, basically until you get to El Paso, there’s just not a whole lot. It’s pretty much wide open, and the cartels have figured out that law enforcement is concentrating on the communities and these area wide open spaces,” Nettleton said.
The commissioner said he would like to see the National Guard establish a station or substation in the Langtry-Pumpville area.
“I’m sure there’s some ranchers that would be more than glad to give the National Guard a place to stay,” Nettleton added.
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