BROOKS COUNTY, Texas (RFD NEWS) — A dramatic drop in illegal immigration is easing the burden on South Texas ranchers who for years dealt with dangerous and heartbreaking conditions along the border. RFD NEWS Correspondent Frank McCaffrey recently spoke with Brooks County rancher Dr. Mike Vickers, who says the changes over the past year have been significant.
“Our border volunteer operations had monthly border operations, and we apprehended a lot of people coming in here illegally,” Vickers said. “We don’t have that anymore.”
Vickers says volunteer patrols that once worked regularly to keep migrants off rural properties are now largely unnecessary, a stark contrast to what he describes as a nightmare situation in years past.
Here on the Texas-Mexico border, Dr. Vickers tells us he has seen the results of the Trump Administration’s tougher immigration policy recently, noting that the number of people crossing this border has dropped, and he sees the results of that change on his ranch. He also says the conditions ranchers previously faced in Brooks County were devastating.
“This county, Brooks County, probably we found as many as maybe in the neighborhood of 300 dead bodies,” he said. “One of them was 30 yards from my front door — a woman that laid down and died.”
Vickers recalled learning about her location after Border Patrol apprehended a group at a nearby checkpoint.
“They said there was a sick woman out there by that house,” Vickers said. “They knew exactly where it was, because I’ve got the only house for miles out there. When we found her, she was already deceased.”
Beyond the deaths, Vickers says another disturbing aspect of mass border crossings involved unaccompanied children left behind by smugglers.
“A lot of children left behind,” he said. “These are kids 10 to 12 years old and even younger, brought in here by drug dealers, cartels, and human traffickers, with no parental supervision.”
Vickers says the stories those children shared were difficult to hear.
“When they woke up in the morning, everybody was gone,” he said. “They just walk off and leave them out there, 10 or 15 miles in the middle of the brush. Some of them stayed there three or four days, but they were smart enough to look for a windmill and at least get water.”
Vickers says he is grateful those situations are no longer a regular occurrence on his ranch or across much of South Texas.
Frank McCaffrey reporting for RFD NEWS.
