Residents along the southern border of Texas shared their experiences with Fox News Digital, describing how the ongoing border crisis has impacted their lives.
Paul Henrich, a rancher from Quemado, Texas, expressed concern, saying, I believe we might face something similar to 9/11 in the future. Biden has opened the door.
Van, a resident of Del Rio, Texas, witnesses crossings daily. I see them crossing right past the sheriff and Border Patrol, he said, calling it a daily occurrence.
According to a recent Fox News survey, 87% of voters consider the U.S.-Mexico border situation an emergency 44% or a major problem 43%. This is an increase from February.
Diane, another Del Rio resident who lives near the Rio Grande, said she now carries a gun for safety and noted that everyone is more cautious. She added, You have to lock everything up because you never know. I’ve seen smugglers drop off people right by my dumpster in broad daylight.
Joe and Leiza, neighbors of Diane, have had several encounters with migrants on or near their property. Joe shared a photo of a dead body found in the river behind his home, with lacerations and a garbage bag over the head. He also mentioned firing shotgun rounds to chase off a car that dumped people near his driveway.
Leiza recalled an incident where Border Patrol apprehended a migrant using a nearby portable toilet. The couple later learned that the man was a repeat sex offender from across the border.
Residents also expressed concerns about high-speed chases as migrants try to evade law enforcement near checkpoints by the river. They noted that migrants know about gaps in the border wall, which remains incomplete due to federal policies.
Fox News Digital also found an abandoned bus filled with clothes of men, women, and children, with more clothing scattered in the brush between houses.
In June, Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office reported that crossings along the Mexico-Texas border had decreased by 74% since Operation Lone Star began in 2021. This operation increased law enforcement presence at the border, including setting up a buoy barrier in the Rio Grande River, which led to a lawsuit from the federal government.
The Biden administration has also sued Texas over a new anti-illegal immigration law that allows state and local authorities to arrest illegal immigrants, arguing that it interferes with federal immigration laws.
Governor Abbott’s spokesperson, Renae Eze, stated, “Texas is holding the line at our southern border with additional barriers to deter illegal immigration invited by President Biden’s open border policies. Instead of enforcing federal immigration laws, the Biden administration allows Mexican cartels to smuggle people into our country.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection data showed that Texas border encounters dropped in June 2024, with 46,250 encounters in July, not including those who evaded capture.
Vice President Harris, leading the Democratic ticket in 2024, has shifted her stance on immigration. While she criticized Trump’s border wall as a “waste of taxpayer money” in 2020, she recently pledged to sign a border bill if elected president. The bill, which was defeated earlier, would require unspent funds to be used on the border wall, though it doesn’t allocate additional funding for it.
In fiscal year 2023, the number of encounters at the border reached over 2.4 million, with nearly 250,000 in December alone.