RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas (RFD News) — Many in South Texas remain vigilant despite a drop in border crossing statistics.
While border crossings are down significantly from a couple of years ago, there are still reports of drugs crossing into the country through rural areas and South Texas ranchland.
Dr. Mike Vickers, a Brooks County rancher, said suspected drug dealers continue to move through the region.
“We are seeing the drug dealers still coming through. We’ve had a camera hit yesterday on some suspected drug dealers that had backpacks.And then south of Herbertville, between Herbertville and Zapata, we’ve had some camera hits of people packing backpacks and coming up pipelines.”
Vickers noted those incidents are not daily but occur a few times each month.
Rio Grande City Police Chief Jose Solis said he has also seen a slowdown in drugs crossing the border.
“It’s been since about 2020, 2019, where we’ve seen a decrease in the larger loads of drugs compared to when I first entered back in 2007. It was a lot more vehicle pursuits then. Lately, it’s really quieted down.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports illegal border crossings have declined significantly. As of January, they were down 84 percent from the previous year.
