Originally published by Citizen Stringer June 14, 2021

El tren de la muerte (“The Death Train”), also known as La Bestia (“The Beast”) and El tren de los desconocidos (“The train of the unknowns”), refers to a network of Mexican freight trains used by migrants, mainly from Central America, to travel the length of Mexico on their way to the United States.

It is estimated that 400,000 migrants, the majority coming from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, ride atop these trains each year in hopes of reaching the United States. The Mexican freight train system, which transports products and materials, is used as free transportation which allows migrants to avoid Mexico’s immigration checkpoints, but the risks are high.

Mexican train companies prohibit riders on their freight trains, however thousands board, making this rule difficult to enforce.

While traveling on The Beast, migrants take the risk of being kidnapped by smugglers, being robbed, even by corrupt Mexican police, or being beaten, raped, or killed. And, unfortunately, it is very common for people to lose limbs from mishaps while boarding the moving trains, or falling off while on board.

Last week, Customs and Border Protection in South Texas rendered first aid to a female migrant who, when attempting to avoid being arrested for illegal entry, ran for a train, lost her grip, and fell underneath it, resulting in severe foot injuries.

On May 28, Inmigrante Centroamericano’s Facebook page posted about one migrant who was killed, and two that were “mutilated” while riding The Beast.

Over 400 migrants from Central America who have lost limbs due to  train injuries have received prosthetic legs, arms, and hands thanks to  an International Red Cross program. They are fitted, rehabilitated, some  choosing to apply for asylum in the U.S. and others choosing to return  to their home country. 

Of the hundreds of thousands of migrants that travel The Beast,  approximately 5% are unaccompanied minors. To make the trip, Central  American children must first cross the border from Guatemala into  Mexico. From there, it is 1,450 miles across Mexico to the U.S. border.

The 2009 HBO documentary Which Way Home,  which was nominated for an Academy Award, followed several children who  were attempting to travel to the U.S. via The Beast. What is  astonishing is how many of them leave without even telling their  parents. It is a fascinating glimpse into what is driving people to  leave their home countries, and the journey that many take, risking  their lives in the process.

Many already have at least one parent or family member already in the  U.S., and most say they want to make a better life for themselves and  their families. Some of their stories are heartbreaking. The children  interviewed along the way are mostly boys who are from Honduras, El  Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, and their ages range from 9 to 17. Some  were abandoned by their parents and left to fend for themselves at a  very early age.

Although the film is twelve years old, The Beast continues to carry  the flow of migrants north towards their dreams of coming to the United  States, and from all reports, it does not appear that anything has  changed.

There is a sophisticated support system which has developed along the  railway routes. As the trains stop at stations, migrants disembark and  are oftentimes met by people who run shelters along the sides of the  tracks. They are offered showers, food and a place to rest up for the  next leg of their journey. There are also organizations that are waiting  with food at various points along the way.

In addition, there is Grupo Beta, formed by Mexico’s National  Institute of Migration in response to the thousands of migrants crossing  its border. They are a mobile humanitarian unit that does not enforce  the law. They provide water, medical aid, and information to migrants in  need.

In one scene, a “Beta,” as individuals from Grupo Beta are called,  speaks to a group of children along the tracks. He tells them that Grupo  Beta wants them to travel safely and never to trust smugglers, warning  them, “They will kidnap you and then ask for ransom, especially since  you are minors. They ask for ransom from your families in the U.S. or in  your home country.” He tells them to “Get on the train when it’s  stopped. Because many times the train drags you and throws you on the  tracks and it’s going to grind you. If it gets the foot it wants to get  the leg too.” He shows the children a book with a drawing of a Beta  defending young migrants from an assailant and other bits of information  meant to help keep them safe.

The kids are shown running to jump on a somewhat slowly moving train  which has so many people hanging on to the sides, and sitting on top of  it, that it doesn’t seem possible any more will fit.

At one stop, Memo Ramirez Garduza, founder of the shelter, House of  Migrants, is standing on a chair addressing a large group of men.

He tells them, “Mexico is the passage of death for you. The freight  train can be your best friend because it can help you travel, but it can  also be your worst enemy. It can kill you. The United States is not the  passage of death, the United States is ‘death itself.’ At the border  during the day, temperatures go from 120 up to 140 degrees. And this jug  (holding up what looks like a 2 gallon plastic water jug) will not even  last you for 3 days of traveling. It is proven at the border, out of  every 100 migrants, between 10 and 20 or more will die.”

He continued, “Maybe many of you here will die. Many of you will  never see your families again, many of you here will never return to  your countries. Because you will die on the way. Now brothers, who  really wants to get to the United States? Raise your hand.” Every single  person raised their hand.

The film shows families from several countries in which authorities  called to inform them their sons had been found dead in the desert  months after they left home. The bodies are then returned to them for  burial in their home countries.

There are stories of people who fall asleep while on top of the train  and end up rolling off by accident, as well as others who are knocked  off by branches, or, in one case as explained by one of the kids, two  men who were standing when the train went through a tunnel at night and  never saw it coming.

Children are left in the hands of smugglers and have been raped and  abandoned. Border patrol finds them walking alone in the desert and some  have died as a result. In one instance, a 10-year-old boy was sitting  on a bench at a detention center sobbing as he explained to a Mexican  immigration official that he was handed off to several smugglers, and  when the group he was with was in danger of being caught, they left him.

According to USCBP, the number of UACs that crossed the border  illegally since the beginning of this fiscal year in October 2020, is  78,513. There have been 30,233 from Guatemala, 20,987 from Honduras,  16,419 from Mexico, 7,514 from El Salvador and 3,360 from ‘other.’

They also note an increase in the amount  of people arriving illegally by train. Since October, CBP officers have  removed 292 undocumented migrants from trains. That is an increase of  more than 60 percent compared to the 181 noncitizens apprehended during  the same time period a year ago. In all of fiscal year 2019, CBP  officers encountered only 50 people attempting to enter the U.S. without  inspection via rail crossings.

The Beast has rightfully earned its name, but that doesn’t seem to stop many people from testing their luck at it.

Originally published on Citizen Stringer, November 20, 2021

BRACKETVILLE, Texas – Citizen Stringer recently had the opportunity to sit down with Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe about the border crisis and its impact on Brackettville and Kinney County. The discussion started as many do in Texas, and that was high school football and Tiger pride.

It is no surprise that Sheriff Coe says the border crisis is the worst he has seen since 1985-1986 when there was a major surge.

Coe says the factors that cause surges in illegal migration are tied to changes in our economy and upcoming presidential elections. “So if we have a little hiccup in our economy, good or bad, it affects Mexico tremendously, and at that period of time, we were kind of in a slump.” He said that in the past, it was “kind of seasonal,” but this year it has never slowed down.

Presidential elections always have an impact because, as he notes, “one side says we’re going to build a wall, the other side says we’re going to open the borders and there’s going to be amnesty.” There are usually rules attached to an amnesty program such as a cutoff date to be in the U.S. by, “So if there’s even the slightest chance, they’ll start moving this way,” Coe said.

Since January, there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of illegal aliens passing through, and between August and October of this year, 2,000 were arrested. Kinney County has a population of 3,600. Brackettville, the county seat, has a population of approximately 1,600.

According to Sheriff Coe, the cartels “have an iron fist on everything.” One of the problems is that they are spreading misinformation in southern Mexico and Central America, telling people they will transport them to the U.S. safely and get them jobs for a price. That price is thousands of dollars and unsuspecting migrants risk becoming indentured servants in order to pay their debts back. Some never do, and the debt is passed down through generations.

Coe stresses it is not the Mexican people, but rather their government, they take issue with. “What government encourages their people to leave? Leave…don’t come back. Just send money home,” Coe said.

Coe has taken a hard stance on standing up for his county because he says their survival depends on it. Kinney County has an electric co-op, schools, and a Border Patrol station. He explained there is no industry to speak of ­ they don’t have oil or gas companies, or manufacturing plants.

The county’s economy relies heavily on its ranchers and the revenue brought in by the hunters that come to the area because of them. During certain seasons, their population triples, creating a booming economy for the local businesses.

When the hunters are in town, they buy their groceries and support the restaurants and other small businesses in the area. “If we lose our hunters and we lose our ranchers, we’re done,” said Coe. Without the ranches that bring in hunters that support the local businesses, their town can’t survive.

Why would ranches, many having been passed down through generations, be at risk?

The majority of crimes being committed right now are criminal trespass and damage to private property.

Illegal aliens who evade Border Patrol are coming through the county and either driving through or cutting ranch fences, which is becoming extremely costly to ranchers.

Coe says the cost to repair ranch fencing can run $25,000 per mile. According to the Texas Department of Agriculture, the state leads the nation in the number of farms and ranches with 248,418, covering 127 million acres.

With all the damage being done, the rancher needs to be riding his fence line more frequently, which takes time away from normal operations and looking after their animals. Sheriff Coe said many ranchers own thousands of acres. “Who does he sell it to?” He said some, whose families have owned property for generations, are starting to consider selling. “Everybody’s losing money – how long can ranchers, exotic game ranchers absorb that loss?” he asked.

In addition to property damage and trespassing, residents are having their vehicles stolen and human smugglers lead law enforcement on high speed chases through town.

The residents have also become concerned about their personal safety. Fortunately, there have been no assaults or violence, and the sheriff prays it doesn’t happen, but they have had groups of illegals come up and demand to be taken someplace, or show up at homes saying they were told that someone would fix them a meal.

Sheriff Coe told us they are looking into drones to help them locate trespassers on large areas of land. While they were being given a demonstration on how the drones work, they sent one up on a local ranch and within one hour caught 20 illegals.

With all of the arrests being made there aren’t enough jail cells in town, or in the county, to hold the perpetrators until their trials, so overflow is being sent to other areas such as Segovia prison in Edinburg which has a capacity of 1224, and Briscoe in Dilley with 1384.

Needless to say, this small community is not used to dealing with such a large number of cases and there is a backlog, which is problematic. If a defendant doesn’t make bail, they are held until their case is heard. However, by law, if the case isn’t heard within a 30-day period, the individual must be released under their own recognizance.

Coe said there were some timing issues with the state and in some cases, Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith did not receive arrest records from authorities until day 29 or 30, resulting in approximately 30 cases being dismissed, but he is confident things will run more smoothly in the future.

Sheriff Coe, until recently, only had six full-time deputies, but in October, he received approval to deputize ten additional members. Although that process has not been completed yet, several nearby counties have sent some of their personnel, six members of the Texas State Guard have been stationed there, and there is a rumor they will be getting 200 National Guard soon, which he says will help them greatly.

Many of the people we spoke to while in Texas feel that people in other areas of the country don’t know the extent of the problems that illegal immigration is causing them. It’s a combination of the mainstream media not reporting it fully, and NIMBY syndrome (Not in my back yard).

Coe said, “People in Chicago don’t care what happens in Texas because it doesn’t affect them. “What I see today, y’all will see tomorrow.”

We have recently reported that over 283,000 illegals have been released into the U.S. during the last year ­ 95,000 of which are not being tracked, and thousands are being flown by nonprofits to destinations of their choice.

Until the policies of the Biden administration remove the incentives for migrants to come to the U.S. illegally, border states will have to deal with the influx as best they can.

Originally published on Citizen Stringer, March 25, 2022

Earlier in the month we wrote about the increasing number of Cubans showing up at our southwest border and were able to point to an event that most likely is the cause of it. That cause is the result of a series of other more serious events between countries, and it seems the purpose is to target the United States using weaponized migration.

Cubans are fleeing a bad economy and an authoritarian regime, and in the past, they have traveled as far as South America to find an overland route to the U.S. border. It is complicated by the fact that many countries have visa requirements that narrow their travel options.

In November, the Nicaraguan government dropped its visa requirement for Cubans, affording them the ability to fly to the capital city of Managua to either settle there, or use it as a shortcut to the United States, which many do. The important part is the reason for the change in policy, which we will get to later on.

As we previously reported, the change in Nicaragua’s visa policy coincided with a steep increase in Cubans crossing the Rio Grande beginning in December and continuing through January 2022.

In fact, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) has updated their statistics since, and the number of Cubans encountered went from 9,720 in January to 16,550 in February, a marked increase.

The current mass migration event is being compared to the 1980 Mariel boatlift, when Cuban President Fidel Castro reversed his closed emigration policy for a period of five months and 125,000 Cuban exiles set off in boats for Florida’s shores. That exodus was driven by a stagnant economy that had been weakened by a U.S. trade embargo, not unlike what is happening currently.

Back in July 2021, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio wrote an article for the Washington Examiner in which he said, when things in Cuba “get really bad, the regime decides to use the lives of thousands of Cubans as blackmail. It threatens to send 50,000 innocent Cubans in boats to America if the sanctions are not lifted.”

Rubio said the tactic has been used before, referencing the Mariel boatlift and the 1994 Cuban raft exodus, also known as the Balsero crisis, when 35,000 Cubans emigrated to the U.S. via makeshift rafts over a five-week period.

Following rioting in Cuba in 1994, Fidel Castro announced that anyone who wished to leave the country could do so without hindrance, and fearing another major exodus, then-President Bill Clinton announced that any rafters intercepted at sea would be detained at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Over 30,000 were held for almost one year before being granted permission to legally immigrate to the U.S.

This led to a policy initiated by the Clinton administration known as “Wet foot/dry foot,” which meant that Cuban migrants intercepted at sea were returned to Cuba or resettled in a third country, and those who made it to U.S. soil were able to request parole. If approved, they obtained lawful permanent resident status under the Cuban Adjustment Act. Cubans began traveling through South and Central America, and then on to Mexico and the border of the U.S.

On January 12, 2017, the Obama administration ended the Wet foot/dry foot policy, citing recent changes in the relationship between the U.S. and Cuba and the reestablishment of full diplomatic relations. A joint statement was signed obligating Cuba to accept the repatriation of its nationals who arrived in the U.S. after the date of signing.

In June 2017, President Donald Trump reinstated restrictions on U.S. travel and business dealings, until certain conditions regarding freedoms and free and fair elections were met. In addition, a few months later we withdrew most staff members from our embassy in Havana in the wake of mysterious health issues encountered there.

Between the sanctions and pandemic-related travel restrictions, Cuba’s tourism industry was shut down, severely damaging the economy.

Large protests broke out in July 2021 as Cubans became fed up with high prices and food shortages. As many have pointed out, when things get to a boiling point, the leaders of these countries start releasing people in order to take the pressure off.

This happens in Mexico also, after thousands of migrants bottle up at their southern border awaiting paperwork that allows them to travel through the country, on their way north to the U.S. The migrants become impatient, start protesting, and threaten to form caravans.

We recently reported on a scheme exposed by Todd Bensman from the Center for Immigration Studies, on what he calls “ant operations.”

Things got very tense in Tapachula after the Mexican government held migrants back for a few months in what Bensman says is an attempt to appear cooperative with the Biden administration. They issued tens of thousands of migrants QR code visas and put them on buses in small groups headed to various parts of the country in order not to draw attention to them.

The difference in the case of Cuban migrants is the speculation that this is a coordinated effort between Cuba and Nicaragua.

The Havana Times said the November move was unexpected and fed the suspicions of those who see Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s “open policy towards Cuba a way to help his colleague, Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel, by providing an escape valve for the pressure cooker that Cuban citizens are living in.”

Cuban activist Antonio Rodiles is quoted as saying he thinks this complicity between Nicaragua and Cuba could be a response to President Joe Biden’s foreign policy. The latter did not renew the more open policies towards Cuba that Barack Obama initiated during his term in office. Rodile also said he notices that the immigration conflicts between Cuba and the United States have always occurred when the Democrat party was in power.

According to Univision, a Spanish language news outlet, veteran analysts in Cuba say “it has all the makings of a well-tried Cuban government strategy to create an escape valve for mounting political pressure on the island.” Some are saying it appears to be “diplomatic blackmail” by Ortega and Diaz-Canal in retaliation for U.S. sanctions against their “widely repudiated regimes.”

On July 13, 2021, in response to the unrest in Haiti and Cuba, which many people were already speculating could lead to waves of irregular migration, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas made a comment at a press briefing that sounded like an unofficial revival of Wet foot/dry foot.

“If you take to the sea, you will not come to the United States … Any migrant intercepted at sea, regardless of their nationality, will not be permitted to enter the United States,” Mayorkas said, making no mention of illegally crossing the border by land.

At the time Sen. Rubio wrote about the issue, he had no idea there would be a change in Nicaragua’s visa policy, or that it would set off a mass exodus of Cubans that would be adding to the chaos at the southwest border, but his statements still apply.

“There can be no room for ambiguity here. If the Cuban dictatorship triggers a mass migration event and threatens the lives of thousands of its own people in such a perilous process, it should prepare for a commensurate response to protect those Cubans’ lives, Rubio said.”

“That is the message Biden should have sent the day the Cuban protests began. It’s also the message that the administration should have sent to Central America as innocent people rushed our southern border, and it’s the message Biden needs to send for any intentional mass migrant event going forward.”

Rubio said that all of these events put thousands of people’s lives at risk, and they will have direct repercussions for people in the U.S. well.

The DHS has announced a new rule that would improve and expedite the processing of asylum claims which involves authorizing asylum officers within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. They hope to decrease the backlog of cases and eventually be able to hear and decide cases within several months, as opposed to the several years it currently takes.

The number of illegal aliens that will get to remain in the country while waiting for their immigration hearing will most likely increase as Title 42 expulsions are expected to be ending shortly, and although the Remain in Mexico program has been reinstated, it is not used frequently.

Originally published on Citizen Stringer, February 16, 2022

If you want to know what’s really going on at the border, you need to talk to the people who live there and experience it every day.

I recently had the opportunity to speak over the phone with Janet Franson, a retired homicide detective who moved to Texas just over seven years ago. She lives near Ft. Davis, not far from Alpine, Van Horn, and Marfa, in the Big Bend Sector, where there has been an uptick in the number of illegal alien encounters, often in large groups.

When someone says to you, “There’s a lot of people that don’t like me, but I will tell you this: I don’t get in trouble for lying – I get in trouble for telling the truth,” you know you’re going to get a straight story.

Fort Davis is located in Jeff Davis County, which has a population of approximately 2,300 people within an area of 2,265 square miles. With a population density of approximately one person per square mile, they hold “frontier status.”

Franson, a Wyoming native, moved to the Lone Star state in 2014 from Montana with her husband. Prior to that, she spent 21 years as a homicide investigator in Florida. After arriving in Texas, they first settled in the hill country, which is remote and rural, but also includes the far reaches of San Antonio and Austin. When a friend introduced them to the Texas mountains in 2019, they fell in love with it and have been there ever since.

She had asked one of the local deputies about illegal alien activity in the area and was told there was not much trouble with it and that they only passed through occasionally, but she said it started becoming more of a problem after “certain entities opened the door and said Y’all come.”

Over the past year, illegal aliens from at least 106 countries have been encountered at the southern border. Franson has seen some evidence of this, noting that years ago, most illegal border crossers were from Mexico. Then, central Americans started coming next, and now migrants from all over the world are showing up.

In 2019, Franson says the Border Patrol apprehended ten Chinese nationals that were hiding in someone’s tool shed in Marfa, which is less than 50 miles from her. “I’m sure that nobody except us around here, heard about it,” she said. “But they’re coming from Africa; they’re coming from the Middle East, coming from the Far East. And you know what? They’re not walking here… they’re getting brought in by smugglers.”

We discussed the big business that is human smuggling and trafficking, a subject that someone in her line of work knows all too well.

Another topic broached was the “church organizations” that assist illegals once they are released from custody. Franson calls them “money making entities” and claims that many of them get people set up somewhere, but then “jerk the rug right out from under them.” Once the federal government is through with them, the states, communities, and the taxpayers of the United States are the ones having to foot the bill for them.

Many of the mayors and officials of these towns are Hispanic themselves, but Franson says, you would be surprised at how many of them have changed parties and are now Republicans because of what they are dealing with.

She spoke about the situation in Del Rio last September, when tens of thousands of Haitians showed up all at once. According to Franson, the people living in the area had to travel to other areas to buy their groceries “because all the illegals coming through were buying up all the groceries…you couldn’t even get a cold drink in a convenience store.”

I asked where the illegals get the money, and Franson replied, “The government.”

As we have seen, when illegal aliens are released from custody, they are given an envelope that contains various items, including their immigration hearing paperwork. Franson says there is also cash money in the packet as well as a sign that says, “Please help me, I don’t speak English.” She says they use these signs to help with transportation.

Franson spoke about several facilities being used as detention centers, such as Ft. Bliss, an active military base, and one of the many locations that were used to shuttle illegals in charter planes under cover of darkness. In most cases, the receiving communities were not informed, but they are left to deal with the situation after the individuals are released into their communities.

She says she has adopted about half of the Border Patrol Agents in her area because at some point, they have been in her yard in response to her calling them about illegals going through her property.

“They literally are tromping through right in front of my front gate,” and through the back of her property, she said. Their land backs up to a camp that is used by a religious group for only a short time in the summer. During the remainder of the year, the only person occupying it is the caretaker.

In January and February 2021, Franson says they had people going through their property “almost on a daily or nightly basis.” The reason, she says, is because not far from their home, and up on the mountain, is a Verizon tower with a beacon at the top.

As she explains it, the coyotes lead the individuals being smuggled, or the “mules” – those who are smuggling drugs for the cartels – across the Rio Grande River, traverse the desert, and then only bring them so far.

“And then they’ll point them to that little red blinking light and tell him that’s where you go. And then they go back,” she said.

One night, her husband asked her to go outside so he could show her something. Their backyard adjoins an unoccupied 5 acre piece of property on which there are “two old house trailers, three dead cars in the front yard,” and no power hooked up to it for years. They could see flashlights in one of the trailers, so they called Border Patrol. About 20 minutes before they arrived, a full size truck pulled right to their front gate.

While Franson was on the phone with the agents, her husband came in to tell her he thought the people they assumed to be illegals were picked up.

January and February are usually busy months for foot traffic through the area, and afterwards it slows down due to rising temperatures.

She spoke of a friend of hers that has a large ranch. One night, the friend received a call about a fire on her property. Apparently, some illegals started a fire to keep warm, but due to the drought and wind conditions at the time, it spread. Franson said “it’s a wonder they didn’t burn the whole mountain down.”

This same neighbor had taken a piece of their property and turned it into an RV park and campground, and there are amenities such as bathroom facilities and a laundry room on the premises. She says typically, illegals shed their dirty clothing and put on a clean set as they get nearer to the towns so they don’t draw attention to themselves. Many have taken advantage of the facilities and have left their dirty clothing in the laundry room.

At around 4:30 on a Sunday afternoon, this same friend heard something at the back door. Two guys were trying to get in.

The woman called her son-in-law, who lives across the road, and he came running over. He also speaks Spanish, so he asked them, basically, “What the hell are you doing?”

They replied that their car broke down, which Franson says is always the story. “Their car broke down, their cell phone doesn’t work, and can they borrow your phone?” She says there was no car; they were trying to call for someone to come and pick them up.

She said the woman’s son-in-law had a security camera installed on his front door, and about two weeks later, “two of them walk up to his front door and want to use his phone.”

Back in November, she and her husband followed a van full of suspected illegals until Border Patrol caught up with them.

They had friends visiting who were staying at the RV Park. She and her husband picked them up and went out to lunch. It was early afternoon when they returned to drop them off, and as they were leaving, they spotted a white 15-passenger van with two guys in the front. They couldn’t tell how many were in the back because of its tinted windows. What struck her as unusual were the California plates.

She said they slowed down, and as they got near the van, “the guy starts rattling to me in Spanish, and I don’t speak enough Spanish to do anything but get myself in trouble.” The van continued up a dirt road, and Franson told her husband to turn around and follow it.

She was calling Border Patrol as they followed the van to the highway, and after several turns, the van stopped, and so did they. She said she could tell the other driver knew they were being followed. She also made a call to a “deputy buddy” to say if he was out in the area, “we’re out here, and we’re following this van.” There are many locations in the area that have little to no cell service, so she had to leave messages.

At that point, she said the van turned around “and hauled ass back toward town,” so they followed. After a distance, the van stopped again, and Franson says they stopped “about a quarter-mile away where we could see ’em.” When the van took off again, “they went flying down the road.” It wasn’t long before the van was stopped by the Sheriff’s Department, and the Fransons stayed with the deputy until Border Patrol Agents and a Department of Public Safety (DPS) trooper showed up. It turned out there were 10 individuals in the van, but their legal status is unknown. The Fransons left them in the hands of the authorities and went home.

“They’re running like never before on foot and in vehicles,” she said. Many of the vehicles used by human smugglers are stolen, so as Franson says, “They don’t give a damn what happens to it. They’re maiming and killing innocent people.”

The day before we spoke, a mother and daughter were killed by a human smuggler in Mission, Texas after he ran a stop sign and T-boned their car, and high-speed chases are becoming more common.

She spoke of an incident that happened between Van Horn and Valentine “when a bunch of them” ended up in a rancher’s barn. It was cold out, and the rancher said they could stay the night, but they would need to move on the next day. They ended up setting the barn on fire, and she said she is sure they were just trying to keep warm, “but they set the damn grass on fire!”

Fortunately, someone traveling past the property saw it and called the owner, because once the fire grew out of control, the group fled.

The day after we spoke, Janet sent me an email to inform me of an incident that had occurred the day before. She talked to a “deputy buddy” of hers who told her that on Saturday, December 11, 2021, at approximately 7 p.m., as he was headed out of town, he had three vehicles pass him,” all running together.”

“When he got to a place we call Point of Rocks, there were 9 SEPARATE fires started! NO way in GOD’s little green earth that was any kind of “accidental” fire start! All right along side of the road.” She said that luckily, there was no wind. He caught them right away and called out the volunteer Fire Department. She added, “Needless to say I didn’t get any sleep last nite, kept looking out the window…”

These are just some of the stories from one area, and they are happening in every border state. All of these incidents involve “gotaways,” who are usually males dressed in dark-colored, or camo clothing, have evaded Border Patrol, and are miles from the border in an attempt to move farther into the country without being detected.

“These are not the people that are coming to America for a better life. These are people who are coming to get everything that they can, and what they can’t beg or borrow, they’ll steal, and they are also bringing in dope like never before,” Franson said.

Things in the county have settled down since they beefed up the area with law enforcement. Franson says they heard the coyotes moved their routes farther north towards and Van Horn, which has been “getting hammered.”

She sympathizes with the Border Patrol, saying she knows what it’s like to work with your hands tied by political issues. Since she frequently comes in contact with agents, she has told them to let her know if they need anything.

Her home is open to them if they’re out patrolling and need a cup of coffee, a cold drink of water, bathroom facilities, or the use of her land line phone. She said she has told them, “if you get out here at three o’clock in the morning and you’re chasing somebody, and you don’t have backup, you need help? You call us and we will come with guns, because I’ve been to too many cop funerals in my years.”

Instead of learning to play golf when she retired, Franson worked as a private investigator for some time and then drew on her many years of expertise and founded a group called, Lost and Missing in Indian Country. Their goal is to assist law enforcement and other professionals in finding missing persons, with an emphasis on Native Americans, which she says are under-reported.

She is still helping solve cold cases and recently helped Washington State Police detectives identify a victim of an automobile accident that happened over 30 years ago.

To my comment that she has led a very interesting life, Franson responded with, “I have. I’ve led a very blessed life. I am living proof that…the good Lord loves fools, drunks, and cops because I’ve been all three. I know that the good Lord above just isn’t through with this old cop just yet because I missed many opportunities to get myself killed in my life.”

Editors note: Correction. We stated that Franson helped detectives identify a victim of an automobile accident that happened over 30 years ago.

That should have said: She is still helping solve cold cases and recently helped Washington State Police detectives create an updated sketch of a victim of an automobile accident that happened over 30 years ago, in the continuing effort to bring closure to the case.

Originally published on Citizen Stringer December 1, 2021

EAGLE PASS, Texas – We see the photos and videos of illegal border crossings, and what seems like a never-ending number of illegal aliens apprehended, posted frequently by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, law enforcement, and the few journalists who cover the crisis on the ground, but until you see it live and in person, you cannot fully appreciate the scope of it. A few weeks ago we visited several locations in the Del Rio area to see it for ourselves.

On November 12 we traveled to Eagle Pass, which is roughly 55 miles south of Del Rio, and one of the new “hot spots” that smugglers are bringing migrants to.

Many law enforcement personnel we spoke to over the course of our trip seem overwhelmed. Early in our travels that day, we ran into a Texas Department of Safety (DPS) trooper and asked him where we might go to see events unfold. His answer was, “Everywhere.”

After a brief chat, he thanked us for what we were doing and said that the “people up north have no idea what’s going on” there because most of the media is not covering what is happening in their state.

As we traveled the area, we saw unfinished sections of the border wall, along with idle construction equipment and materials that were meant to complete it.

We were overwhelmed by the number of personal items and clothing we saw – until we found THE spot.

We knew we were in the right place when we realized that what we found previously was small in comparison, and that did not compare to how much more there would be by the end of the evening.

Why all the discarded items?

The migrants swim or walk across the river to the U.S. side. When they reach the banks, they remove their wet clothing, leave it, and put on other items they have kept dry in the process. Although we found many items on the riverbank and along the paths from the river to the road, the majority of them are discarded along the sides of the road.

We spent a little more than six hours at the Rio Grande that day, and we can tell you that the stream of illegal border crossings is never-ceasing – especially once the sun goes down.

While in Texas, we made a stop in Brackettville to speak with Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe.

Part Two coming soon – what we saw in the evening.

Originally published on Citizen Stringer, December 8, 2021

The Citizen Stringer team spent about six hours at the Rio Grande River on November 12. In Part One  of our Eagle Pass report we discussed what we found during the daytime  hours. Our experiences as the sun was setting were ‘interesting.’ Within  a short amount of time, two large groups of illegals showed up, and the  stream of people was constant.

As the sun was setting, the mood shifted and things got a bit eerie.  Everything changed – the lighting, the temperature, and the sounds.

We could hear various sounds coming from across the river in Mexico.  One of the first we noticed was the crowing of roosters, then voices and  music from what must have been a club or a party. We also started  hearing barking dogs, which was something we had not heard before.

Then we heard something that made us stop and listen more closely. It  was a gunshot. We heard several, but they were all solitary and spaced  out with some time in between them. We suspected it was some sort of  signal, possibly from the cartels.

We soon realized that when we heard the dogs barking, we would be  seeing people that had crossed the river, made their way through the  bushes, and onto the road in front of us.

Border Patrol agents, assisted by Eagle Pass Police Department  officers were there waiting by then. This is a routine and they knew  when to show up.

The first group showed up right around 5 p.m., and we estimated that it totaled over 100 people.

Everything was done in an orderly manner. The individuals were lined  up and their passports or IDs were collected if they had it, and it  appeared most did.

Border Patrol agents told us they were doing the prep work for processing that would be completed at the Border Patrol Station.

The first group went from one dozen, doubled quickly, and continued  to grow until it reached what we thought to be over 100. Shortly after  that group was taken away for processing, a second group started  forming. Within about two hours, we witnessed approximately 150-200  illegal border crossers in just one area of Eagle Pass.

Here is a fast motion time-lapse of a sampling of videos taken that evening.

The single adult males in the groups will most likely be processed  and deported. Families are usually processed and provided with either a  Notice to Appear (NTA) or a Notice to Report (NTR.)

Typically, illegal border crossers who don’t get deported under Title  42 or Title 8, and are claiming asylum, are given an NTA, which gives  them a location and date to appear before an immigration judge who will  make a decision on their claim.

Beginning in the spring of 2021, many family units have been given NTRs,  which instructs them to check in at the local Immigration and Customs  Enforcement (ICE) office within 60 days of arriving at the location they  wish to live in.

We know from speaking to many officials in the Del Rio Sector that  they are overwhelmed, and we were impressed with the agents’ and  officers’ compassion while dealing with a never-ending stream of illegal  border crossers.

The border crisis is real. This is only one small area of many and  this same thing is happening in locations all along our Texas border, as  well as in Arizona, New Mexico, and California.

Still to come; part three of our report, which will show what happens after dark.

Originally published on Citizen Stringer, December 13, 2021

EAGLE PASS, Texas – Last month, the Citizen Stringer team traveled to  Eagle Pass, Texas. Part One of our report discussed what we found during the day,  and Part Two showed what happened as the sun was setting. In this  installment, we share our experiences at the Rio Grande River after  dark.

As the sun dropped, so did the temperature. Earlier in the day, it  had been 80 degrees, but in the evening, it went down to about 50.

When Border Patrol and/or Eagle Pass police were around, their  vehicles’ lights illuminated the area, but those officials would leave  to escort groups of illegals to the station for processing and we would,  for brief periods, be surrounded by darkness.

We felt fairly safe, but there is something about being in an  unfamiliar place, in the dark, that puts you on edge at least slightly.  We did end up turning on our vehicle’s lights at some point, which not  only helped our vision, but also made taking photos and videos easier.

As mentioned in Part Two,  when we heard dogs barking from across the river, we knew that within minutes we would be seeing people emerging from the bushes. At  approximately 7:45 p.m., a small group who said they were from Venezuela  showed up. You can hear the dogs barking at the beginning of the video.

Border Patrol was not in the area at the time this group came  through, but we were able to inform them about it when they arrived a  few minutes later, and they headed off to catch up to them.

The arrivals continued, and we noticed some striking differences  between the groups that arrived under the cover of darkness from those  that arrived during daylight hours.

As people from the earlier groups stepped out of the bushes, barring  their wet clothing, it almost looked as if they were stepping off of a  plane, ready to go home after a vacation. Many had backpacks that  contained dry clothing and belongings, and some carried those “U” shaped  travel pillows with them. They were calm and relaxed, and did not look  fatigued or ragged.

In comparison, those that arrived later at night looked tired and  worn out. Since the temperature had dropped, it would be safe to assume  that crossing the river was much more uncomfortable, not to mention  treacherous, in the evening than it was during the day. But those  conditions do not deter the smugglers or migrants, and they just  continue to come across in groups large and small.

Just as we were about to go live on Wake Up America, at approximately 8:10 p.m., a fairly large group showed up.

This particular group had some serious issues besides the darkness  and the temperature, although those factors may have contributed to  them. As they came out of the bushes, they looked fatigued, and you  could see steam coming off of their wet clothes.

Then we heard shouting off in the distance, and several men ran back toward the river.

Minutes later we watched as two men carried a female out of the  bushes. It was difficult to tell her age; she did not appear to be a  child, but she was small enough for the men to carry her without any  trouble. As they carried her across the road though, we noticed that she  was unconscious. A third man who followed them out appears to shake his  head “no.”

We reached out to Border Patrol to inquire about the status of the  female and were told there was no report logged of the incident, so we  will never know if she made it or not.

The Border Patrol does not shy away from posting incidents of illegal  aliens being injured or even killed. They frequently post the details  of such incidents to demonstrate the dangers that migrants face when  they attempt to enter the U.S. illegally, so we are assuming that they  are simply so overwhelmed, not every event gets recorded.

Shortly after that incident, we witnessed another unique situation –  two people were brought up from the river and out of the bushes, one at a  time, in a wheelchair. They were taken and put into a Border Patrol  van, and the empty wheelchair was wheeled away with the group as they  walked, escorted by Border Patrol agents, toward a waiting bus closer to  the main road. We did not witness any wheelchair previous to seeing  people exiting the bushes, so we are assuming it had been floated across  the river somehow.

The vans brought in by Border Patrol do not have the capacity to hold  the larger groups, and a bus cannot navigate the narrow dirt back roads  by the river, so the groups are walked to a location where the larger  vehicle picks them up and transports them for processing at the Border  Patrol Station.

We cannot accurately say exactly how many groups we saw that day because they just kept coming.

In the short amount of time we were able to spend in the area, it was  obvious that the arrivals were constant, and that someone on the other  side was directing the groups to this one particular spot. It was also  easy to see that Border Patrol and law enforcement were doing their best  in a bad situation and trying to keep up with it all.

Unfortunately, the events we saw in Eagle Pass that day happen 24/7,  and not only in Eagle Pass, but all along our southern border.

In FY 21 (October 2020 – September 2021), the U.S. Customs and Border  Protection reported a total of 1,734,686 encounters with illegal  aliens. There were 164,303 encounters recorded for October 2021.  Although that number was lower than the month before, in September,  which was 192,001, it was still higher for the same time period the year  prior, which was 71,929 in October 2020.

The Biden administration can say that our borders are not open, but  that is not accurate. We saw it for ourselves, and we spoke to people  who are directly affected by the crisis happening in their communities.

When a Texas state trooper thanks you for reporting on the situation  because “the people up north have no idea what’s going on,” things are  bad.

If you don’t think it will affect you, think again. After illegal  aliens are processed, many – usually families – are released into the  U.S. and allowed to travel to their choice of location to wait for their  immigration hearing. To quote Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe, “What I see today, y’all will see tomorrow.”