In parts of TX where the border crime has always been serious and the people who live there say there is no problem everything is fine I have thought they were bought. The Border Patrol recently plastered the country over there with a toll free number to report suspicious activity anonymously. No rewards are offered, no info is taken from caller. I have noticed they are making some large busts over there since then. I am going to say many of the people there are not paid off but scared.
We report things, but we are careful who we report to. We have been lucky enough to trust trustworthy people and not had an issue. We do not randomly call and make a report, we report to agents we have built a relationship with. It is not only that the cartels will retaliate but there are also dirty LEOs of every agency and people working in their offices that have been found to be working for cartel.
Most ranchers do report things, but if they trust the wrong person then they are burned. If we the people demand a secure border, and there is enough of us, then things will change. Until then we all have to live here as we say when asked why we don’t do this or that. ]
Many are talking to the media to get word out about what goes on here. So far most of the articles have been pretty fair. I do not trust the media and will not talk to them. I do what I can to get word out, but not going to be interviewed by some goofy left reporter that will twist my words.
I can promise you all of these people gave an in depth interview about all the border issues here, and fear was mentioned as only one issue of many. This reporter zeroed in on the one thing- fear. That may be good, but not a representation of what the people talked about when they talked about a lot of stuff. As you read this take it in the context. These are people who have had friends and neighbors kidnapped and murdered. They still live here, they are still fighting for this border.
The cartels control the entire border on the Mexican side. If anyone stands up to them the whole family is murdered. I would argue the cartels own pockets along the border on the US side. If we don’t get control of this border the cartels will. That is a fact.
Wow, thanks for the info. It reminds me of a couple of things.
In 2002, Muslim Palestinians entered the Church of the Nativity (in Bethlehem) while fighting Israel and simply trashed it. The people who normally operate the church are Christian Palestinians (some of the very few left in the ‘occupied’ territories). Israel’s military was there trying to free up the church from the Muslims. I’m watching the Christians, now on the outside, watching what’s happening, and all they’re doing is BLASTING Israel, as if Israel started the damn thing, which, of course, they didn’t. They didn’t have one bad thing to say about the Muslims in the church, who were tearing it apart and using it as military base.
Years later it finally hit me: Back then, during the siege, the Christians knew that Israel would be leaving at some point in the near future, once they got control of the church and gave it back to the Christians - but their Muslim ‘friends’ would not be leaving, they would still all be there, some 90% of the population of Bethlehem. So, yea, it sounded like the Christians were being idiots, siding with the Palestinians, but it’s called ‘survival’. Kind of related to that is when one sees a Muslim women in a space suit DEMANDING that this practice be allowed to continue, even those damn things have to get hot as hell in the summer, and no person in their right mind would ever want to wear one - yet they insist it is their cultural identity and crap like that. But, one must remember, those women have husbands and families - and in that culture, things don’t end well for women who try ‘taking a stand’ against their masters.
As to our southern border - there was an interview of a Border Patrol agent and he noted just what you said - which is that the cartels have done something that only Trump (and we) dream of, which is to secure the border. No one lives who tries crossing the border without their approval. This is no longer the days of Juan and Jose heading north to work the fields for the summer, this is serious business, the rules are clear, and the penalty is torture and then death (and death of the family, as you noted). For people who STILL think that we have ‘friends across the aisle’, the fact that Democrats are DEFENDING these cartels in Congress, only because of their hatred of Trump - that should tell them something, but it won’t.