Free Republic

Michael Vickers, a veterinarian and rancher in Falfurrias, Texas, says he won’t let outside militia onto his property and he doesn’t think such groups will be trusted by most area landowners. Gun-carrying civilian groups and border vigilantes have heard a call to arms in President Trump’s warnings about threats to American security posed by caravans of Central American migrants moving through Mexico. They’re packing coolers and tents, oiling rifles and tuning up aerial drones, with plans to form caravans of their own and trail American troops to the border. “We’ll observe and report, and offer aid in any way...

SOUTH OF FALFURRIAS - Border Patrol agents are searching for illegal immigrants in the brush south of the Falfurrias checkpoint. Border Patrol agents were chasing a group of illegal immigrants in a truck. We're told the driver veered off the road and crashed into a fence. Four people were caught. The other people inside took off on foot. Agents are searching for the people who left the scene. They've called in air support and BORSTAR agents to help in the search.

Illegal immigration may be down, but ranchers and farmers in south Texas say the influx continues and it's becoming more violent and criminal. FALFURRIAS, Texas—When Linda Vickers leaves home to feed the horses on her Texas ranch each morning, she takes three things: her dog, her cell phone, and her pistol. For Vickers, these aren't just the trappings of a typical rural rancher: They're a way to guard against the potential danger of illegal aliens and to call U.S. Border Patrol agents if trouble erupts. Though she hasn't used the gun, the dogs have warned her more than once: A...

(FALFURRIAS) Kiii News - An elderly woman is dead following a horrible crash in Falfurrias. Police say a suburban full of suspected illegal immigrants crashed head on into a home killing 70 year old Berta Gonzalez who was asleep inside her bedroom. The crash sent at least 5 others to the hospital, according to police. The Falfurrias police chief says an officer tried to pull over the driver of the suburban moments before the crash during a routine traffic stop. When the officer got out of his unit, the suburban picked up speed and took off down Center Street. Police...

CORPUS CHRISTI — Falfurrias police are investigating the death of a man shot during the weekend. Ramiro Carrera, 25, died early Monday at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial, said Ric Ortiz, chief investigator for the Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office. Carrera had a single gunshot wound the chest, Ortiz said. Police could not be reached for comment.

LAREDO, Texas -- A Texas Highway Patrol trooper found 5,408 lbs. of marijuana inside a school bus after pulling over the vehicle north of Laredo, Texas Department of Public Safety officials said. The driver fled on foot from the scene. The bus was marked to resemble a United Independent School District bus. DPS officials estimate the marijuana is worth more than $1.7 million. DPS continues to investigate leads in the case.

U.S. Highway 281 Presentation >> Priority 1: Spend $75 million to build five overpasses in Falfurrias.>> Priority 2: A $13 million Ben Bolt overpass at Farm-to-Market Road 2508 is proposed to create a safer school zone and eliminate another traffic barrier.>> Priority 3: Dedicate anywhere from $40 million to $104 million to build tolled relief route around Premont or upgrade the existing route with tolled freeway lanes.>> Priority 4: A $50 million project in George West to build connectors to U.S. Highway 59 and Interstate 37.McALLEN -- Whether the route is eventually called Interstate 69 or the Trans-Texas Corridor, four...

Agency says getting all people, legal and illegal, to safety is its top priority The U.S. Border Patrol said today it is not checking the documents of individuals who are fleeing Hurricane Dolly, and it has no intention of using natural disasters as a pretext for rounding up and deporting illegal immigrants, 1200 WOAI news reports. Officials in the Rio Grande Valley have been worried about Border Patrol actions ever since a reporter spotted a Border Patrol official conducting a document check during a hurricane evacuation drill in McAllen in May. Some officials had expressed concern that Rio Grande Valley...

McALLEN -- State senators on Tuesday ordered transportation officials to assess Texas' highway system and prioritize which regions are most in need of new roads. "We're expecting a full report, not some two-page letter," said state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security. "You can't begin addressing the funding problems until you know when the roads are expected to come on line." The transportation committee, which met Tuesday morning at McAllen City Hall, has been at odds with the Texas Department of Transportation since earlier this year, when the agency announced the halt...

Not one of the 11 East Texans who approached the podium at Wednesday's hearing on Interstate 69 voiced support for the planned highway. "This is highway robbery, and we should not pursue this project," said David Simpson, a Longview resident and fifth-generation Texan. "This process has bypassed the Constitution. It has bypassed the U.S. Congress, and I'm opposed to it because of the unconstitutional way that it has been pushed through." The public hearing, held at Maude Cobb Convention and Activity Center, was a chance for residents to comment and ask questions about Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor. The corridor would extend...

FALFURRIAS — Police recently responded to a call about a stolen rooster named Harry, but this rural enclave in the South Texas brush country is more like Miami than Mayberry. Brooks County has only 7,600 residents, but the area pulses with illicit traffic attempting to sneak people and drugs past the nearby Border Patrol checkpoint 70 miles north of the Rio Grande on U.S. 281. It poses challenges and extra work for local law enforcement, some of it gruesome. But it also creates a gold mine. By policy, the Border Patrol can't chase vehicles, so a cooperative arrangement has evolved....

McALLEN — A white Suburban being chased by Brooks County deputies on U.S. 281 rolled over near Falfurrias early Thursday, killing one undocumented immigrant and injuring 11 others. The 10-mile chase started when Falfurrias police tried to pull the Suburban over for going 55 in a 45-mph zone, but the driver sped off. Police backed off and let the deputies take over when they reached the city limits. Deputies told Alice-based Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Robert Vasquez they stayed about 100 yards behind the vehicle. "Right now there are a lot of unknowns," Vasquez said of the 12:51...

FALFURRIAS, Texas Authorities say a 21-year-old illegal immigrant from Albania died in South Texas after his S-U-V rolled over following a ten-mile chase. The Department of Public Safety says eleven passengers in the Suburban were injured in yesterday's crash -- four Hondurans, four Albanians and three Salvadorans. D-P-S says the chase began near Falfurrias when officers tried to pull over the vehicle for going 55 in a 45 mile-an-hour zone. The S-U-V sped off. The driver escaped on foot after the crash. The injured passengers were taken to hospitals. They're expected to be deported. Information from: San Antonio Express-News, http://www.mysa.com

FALFURRIAS - The Minutemen are back - with more volunteers, better technology and an unwavering resolve to spark the federal government to seal the borders. Today begins the third month-long "Secure Our Borders" operation. The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps patrolled the southern and northern borders in October. Civilian border observers will be doing much of the same throughout April. The patrols will be ongoing in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, New Hampshire, New York and Washington. But this time, the difference is that the full U.S. Senate is tackling contentious immigration reform in Washington. The organization hopes its patrols will...

FALFURRIAS — The Mexican consulate in McAllen confirmed this morning several of the people killed and injured in a highway accident on U.S. 281 were from Mexico. Consul officials have identified three of the six who died in Thursday’s accident, but are not releasing their names until their families have been notified, said spokeswoman Sandra Mendoza. She said two of the men, ages 33 and 35, were from Cuidad Valles in San Luis Potosi. The female victim in the accident was a 33-year-old woman from Palenque, Chiapas. The other three men who died in the accident have not been identified,...

Organizer: Valley doesn’t understand magnitude of immigration problem FALFURRIAS — Mike Vickers, a Falfurrias veterinarian and landowner, has lived on a ranch for the better part of his life. He was born in a Corpus Christi farming and ranching community and moved to Falfurrias in April 1975. His life experiences, he said, are much different from those living in the Rio Grande Valley, where he feels more citified folk don’t quite understand or want to understand the impact of illegal immigration. His firsthand experiences are why he is one of the key organizers of the Falfurrias Minuteman Civil Defense Corps....

Group remains unsure of plans for Brownsville FALFURRIAS — The Minutemen have arrived in South Texas but major operations are still not expected to start until October, group officials said Tuesday. About 20 members of the civilian border patrol group met here last weekend to develop strategies to halt illegal immigration in Brooks and Jim Hogg counties. The group remains unsure whether it plans to patrol near Brownsville. “Right now we are in our reconnaissance and planning stage,” said Minutemen organizer and local ranch owner Michael Vickers. “We are getting our communication equipment together and we’re getting our maps ready.”...

FALFURRIAS-- The president of the state's Minuteman Project visited Falfurrias on Sunday to map out a plan to protect the South Texas border from illegal immigrants. Al Garza says he was asked by ranchers to help out with the growing problem. Garza traveled all the way from Arizona to answer the call. He's here to help ranchers like Mike Bickers, who's seen the number of illegals on his property double in the past year. "On a nightly basis and a daily basis there's large numbers sometimes one hundred to one hundred and fifty a night coming through my property," said...

FALFURRIAS - As drug violence escalates in the state's large border towns and snakes its way up interstate highways to major cities, south Texas farmers and ranchers are struggling to find a solution to the steady stream of illegal immigrants who trespass on their property, destroy fences and leave behind trash, or worse, the bodies of those who can't keep up on the journey. Texas' border with Mexico is not the same as it was 25 years ago, when south Texas farmers and ranchers might hire a few of the illegals who crossed it to find seasonal work and support...