BROOKS COUNTY, Texas (RFD News) — A South Texas rancher says illegal border crossings have slowed significantly, with far fewer encounters reported over the past year. RFD News correspondent Frank McCaffrey spoke with Dr. Mike Vickers, a Brooks County rancher who has led a border volunteer group for two decades, about what he is seeing on the ground.
Vickers says activity has dropped sharply, with only a couple of incidents reported recently.
“We’ve had two situations where we saw one single person last Thursday coming through, and the Border Patrol response was incredible. I sent the army out here to catch him. And then about three weeks ago, we had six Chinese people come through, and they caught those six over at the rest area, right across from my fence, so, anyway, those are the only two situations in over a year under Trump that we’ve had on private property.”
He credits increased enforcement efforts, including support from Texas Governor Greg Abbott, for helping reduce traffic in the region.
“We have the DPS brush crews come out and train on my property right here where we’re sitting and they bring their dogs or track dogs, they bring their drones and nobody gets away and when they catch them, we file criminal trespassing charges on them and they go to a detention center in Jim Hogg County over in Hebronville.”
While activity has slowed, Vickers continues operating his volunteer patrols across a wide stretch of South Texas ranchland. Things have slowed down significantly for South Texas ranchers when it comes to immigration traffic, but Dr. Vickers still runs his border operation, even though business isn’t what it used to be.
Vickers says his team covers large, remote areas where activity can still occur.
“Well, we cover a big area. This last border volunteer operation, we were on a property between Hebronville and Zapata, and that’s about a 60-mile stretch there, and it’s all big ranch country. You can drive all the way from Hebronville to Zapata and see very few buildings because the few ranchers that live in that area are off the highway. There are some drug dealers coming through.”
He adds that while drug trafficking has long been an issue in the region, it has also declined.
“But, it’s down considerably. I mean, I’d say maybe even once a month, we might see evidence that some backpackers are coming through.”
Frank McCaffrey reporting for RFD News.
