We turn our attention to the crisis at the southern border where undocumented immigrants used a grain hopper to cross over from Mexico.
Charlotte Cuthbertson with the Epoch Times shared the video on Twitter. She stated that 21 men were hiding in on train car and four more were in other cars on the train. She added that they will be returned to Mexico in the next day or two, but many will try to cross again almost immediately.
The surge is having an impact on Texas citrus growers. One producer tells us he recently faced a distressing incident.
Fred Karle is well-known in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas as a citrus producer. He tells us that the dangers of the immigration surge in his part of the country became very apparent recently.
According to Karle, “We have one large grove or two large groves down on the river, and so, the other day we were trying to work down there and they had literally had a shootout, where our men had to get out of the grove because the cartel and law enforcement group was getting after it. Shots were fired or a lot of shots were fired and we had to get out of the way.”
Karle says that it is not uncommon for his workers to get a warning from smugglers that there will be traffic passing through his groves.
“One time they came through and told the guys, ‘hey, you know we’re going to have some activity going on here, and y’all might just want to go home,’ and so they did and we didn’t get any work done that day,” he states.
Members of the rural community in south Texas who live on the border have told us that at times they feel unsafe with immigrants on or near their property. Karle, however, is taking it in stride.
“Well, maybe I’m complacent,” he adds. “I drive around down there a couple of times a week and I don’t really think about that. But, maybe I’m being complacent but I don’t feel intimidated.”
He does not feel he should stop being complacent-- for now.
Related:
Texas Ag Commissioner on the crisis at the border
Rep. Gonzales wants Biden administration to solve the crisis at the border
Surge at the border at all-time high, drug traffickers head into rural areas
Surge at the border and protecting U.S. soil
How issues at the border hold local farmers back
The surge at the border and its impact on ag