ROMA, Texas — It was another hot day in the Rio Grande Valley as Richard Guerra took me on a tour of his 8,000-acre ranch that sits near the U.S.-Mexico border. Guerra, a cattle rancher by trade, told me he had never seen such an increase in illegal immigrants using his land to evade Border Patrol until after Joe Biden became president.
Much of the fencing around Guerra's family ranch by U.S. Route 83 is high and straight, but as you go along the county road that heads north, the damaged fencing sticks out like a sore thumb. The barbed wire on top of the fence is mangled, fencing posts are knocked down, and it is not uncommon for either the immigrants or coyotes to cut holes through the fence.
"What you see all of this here, is because jumping [over the fence], because somebody is waiting for them over them...so one of the favorite things that they do is jump here and whoever is going to pick them up is right there, and they keep going on," Guerra said.
"Who knows how many people went through there," said Guerra after stopping the pickup truck at one section of heavily damaged fencing. "But they leave it like that, and we gotta come to try to mend it. Now, if I got a bunch of cattle here, they're gonna go out that way. That's a problem. They're not afraid to do that, to cut your fences."
"It's a problem, so Madam Vice President [Harris] get your butt down here. That's all I can say. You can quote me on that. I'm on her sh*tlist anyway."
At another section on the north end of his ranch, Guerra explained it cost around $600 to fix and replace one small section of fencing cut away by traffickers and the illegal immigrants.
As of now, ranchers along the southwest border are not reimbursed by the federal government to repair or replace damaged or stolen property caused by immigrants trespassing on their property. Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) earlier this month introduced the RAPID (Reimbursing Agriculture Producers for Immigration Damages) Act, which would seek to reimburse farmers and ranchers for damages and vandalism caused by illegal immigration.
"Far too often, farm and ranch families in Texas and other border states are put at risk by the influx of illegal migrants crossing our southern border, and they are facing unprecedented levels of damage and vandalism to their properties," said Pfluger. "I have spoken with countless farmers and ranchers whose livelihoods are being threatened — it is time we secure our border and ensure our local communities don’t continue paying the price for this crisis."
