Free Republic

Longtime Democratic state Rep. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City is switching parties as Republicans press to make new inroads in South Texas and after redistricting made his district much more favorable to the GOP. Guillen was set to make the announcement Monday morning during a news conference in Floresville where he was joined by Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont. "After much consideration and prayer with my family, I feel that my fiscally conservative, pro-business, and pro-life values are no longer in-step with the Democrat Party of today, and I am proudly running as a Republican...

Fresh footprints, sightings on residents streets, if you look close enough, the signs are everywhere. "They are not trying to hide or remain concealed anymore," Rio Grande City Police Officer Jose Garcia said. Action 4 News did a ride-along with Rio Grande City Police to see how the immigration surge is affecting residents in the area. Officer Garcia spends more than half of his day tracking down undocumented immigrants. Illegal immigration is nothing new to the border town but has recently become more visible. "People are forgetting that aside from the fact that families and woman are giving themselves up,...

A former plaza boss for the Gulf Cartel is behind bars in the Rio Grande Valley after being arrested in Starr County. U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested 34-year-old Eudoxio Ramos-Garcia at a Rio Grande City home on Thursday. Court records released Wednesday show that Ramos-Garcia is the former plaza boss for the Gulf Cartel across the border from Roma in Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas. U.S. Immigrant & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have taken over the investigation and filed federal drug charges against Ramos-Garcia. Court records show that Ramos-Garcia remained in the drug trafficking business as an independent marijuana smuggler. The records...

HAVANA, Texas - Officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection say agents were forced to open fire on a group of people who threw rocks during a failed drug smuggling attempt across the Rio Grande River last night. The assault occurred when agents assigned to the Rio Grande City Station spotted several boats returning to Mexico laden with bundles. Agents from the McAllen Boat Patrol unit were called in to assist in thwarting the smuggling attempt. While agents attempted to seize the narcotics, several people on the Mexican riverbank began pelting the agents with rocks, striking one agent in the...

RIO GRANDE CITY — Three men allegedly raped and abused Mexican girls brought across the Rio Grande to work as prostitutes. Rio Grande City police uncovered the alleged sex trafficking ring during a March 17 traffic stop. Federal authorities have opened their own investigation in the case, as well. But the local criminal charges lodged in the case allege that the juvenile girls — as young as 13 years old — had been brought into the city to work as prostitutes and were sexually abused by their smugglers, as well. Arrested were Juan Antonio Garcia and Juan Chavarria, 25, who...

Every child deserves a chance at an education. But when that opportunity is taken away, some have to find other means of getting it, even if that means going to another country. "This past month and a half we've picked up approximately an extra 90 students," said Rio Grande City CISD Superintendent Roel Gonzalez. That number could rise if the violence in Mexico continues. "For the kids that come over the parents will tell you right away that they're American citizens,” said Gonzalez. “By right they deserve to be educated." Rio Grande City was growing in population, even before the...

At least seven are dead following gunfights south of Starr County RIO GRANDE CITY — Gunmen opened fire on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande City-Camargo International Bridge on Saturday morning. Tamaulipas officials confirmed the attack via the state’s emergency notification system amid a flurry of unconfirmed reports about the assault, providing few details about the incident. A Mexican customs facility at the port of entry was damaged, but officials did not report any injuries in connection with Saturday’s confrontation between federal authorities and the gunmen. U.S. customs officials said they were “aware of what’s going on in Mexico”...

McALLEN — The employer of a Rio Grande City woman accused of locking a teenager in her office and holding him for ransom said Tuesday he was shocked to learn of the allegations against her. Orlando Julian, director of operations for 1st Choice Provider Services Inc., maintained his company had no knowledge of the 15-year-old Mexican national Odilia Svenningsen allegedly held in the business’s Starr County office for two days. 1st Choice offers home healthcare services to clients across the Rio Grande Valley. “We had no idea what was going on there,” he said. “She will not be working with...

A Rio Grande City rancher is accused of holding several immigrants at gunpoint because they crossed onto his property. Rio Grande City police say last Thursday the department received an anonymous call that several illegal immigrants were being held at gunpoint in a general area behind the COD Auto Parts. When officers arrived they discovered the immigrants had already left. Later that day – officers interviewed a man, woman and two children. The Mexican nationals identified the accused gunman, 45-year old Felix Ricardo Salinas, of pointing a gun at them and demanded money because they were crossing his ranch along...

RIO GRANDE CITY — Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said Thursday he was glad to be home after serving as the top U.S. commander in Iraq. "It’s always great to be in Texas, especially back in the Valley," said Sanchez, who attended a parade marshal reception Thursday night in his honor at the Twin Ballroom. The general is scheduled to serve as parade marshal today in the city’s annual Christmas parade. This morning he is scheduled to walk with other city officials to the middle of the Starr-Camargo International Bridge and meet with Camargo city leaders before having breakfast at the...

Treviño still confident Republicans can attract Hispanic voters. If the Republican Party of Texas is going to seriously dent the traditional dominance of Democrats in the Rio Grande Valley, it needs more supporters like Isabel Treviño. Treviño, an attorney from Rio Grande City, chairs the Starr County Republican Party and was one of only two GOP members from her county at the state convention. The other was her daughter Sarah. Treviño said the GOP is poised to make significant inroads in the Valley because it shares the same core values as Hispanics. She said those were the importance of religion,...

RIO GRANDE CITY — Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez is really missing his mom’s tamales. While his mother is sitting down today with his brothers and sisters for Christmas dinner, the top U.S. commander in Iraq is battling insurgents in a country brutalized for decades by Saddam Hussein. However, the general, who was born and raised in Rio Grande City, on Tuesday evening said there is still room for celebration. “We have a whole bunch of entertainers that are visiting us,” Sanchez said from Iraq during a telephone interview with The Monitor. “David Letterman and a bunch of others across the...

Ricardo Sanchez rose from poverty in Starr County to become an Army general RIO GRANDE CITY - When Ricardo Sanchez was 13, he and an older brother told his mother they didn't want to go to school anymore. OK, she said. They could pick cotton instead. "I woke them up at 5 in the morning and sent them off in one of the trucks," said Maria Sanchez, the 77-year-old mother of the highest-ranking military official in Iraq. "They came home and they were very tired, but I just gave them some dinner and told them, 'Go to bed because tomorrow...