http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9979498/

Ranchers seek help from civilians patrolling U.S. border
Minutemen Civil Defense Corps includes some West Texans

By Jay Hendricks, NewsWest 9
KWES-TV
FALFURRIAS, TEXAS - Ranchers in south Texas say the number of illegal immigrants crossing the border and passing through their area is alarmingly high. They cite soft borders and a high number of smugglers for the problems. Now, they want something done about it.

The ranchers live along U.S. Highway 281, which stretches from San Antonio to McAllen.

They are 65 miles north of McAllen, and 60 miles east of Laredo. Those are two big checkpoints and, according to the ranchers, a high number of people cross through here each day.

It's the illegals, though, that seem to be causing the biggest concern.

"This is a look at some of the damage," Dr. Mike Vickers, pointed out. Vickers is a veterinarian, and a rancher who can't run cattle on this land because of damage to fences every day.

"It's too costly," he explained. "These are expensive to fix."

This, Vickers claimed, is what ranchers deal with on a regular basis.

They go on to say only one U.S. Border Patrol agent works their area. There is a Border Patrol checkpoint, four miles away, but it's the illegal immigrants who are trying to get around those checkpoints that are causing the most trouble and damage to property.

"This is one of a hundred of these camp sites," Vickers indicated a patch of ground. "This is a drop-off point. The highway is just a couple hundred yards from here. This is at the end of a known trail that goes nearly 25 miles south of here."

"And with the property destruction, there has been violence," he went on to say. "We started finding bodies, you know, right here in our immediate deployment area, in this immediate area, within five miles of this ranch, there has been 39 people die this summer."

Once they cross these gates....the border patrol drags this ground to show the footprints. They can then track what direction they are going...and report it to the border patrol......mike...

"sometimes, they are very busy," Vickers acknowledged. "They are outmanned. They haven't got the manpower or resources to control this situation. And, sometimes, they can't respond. And we are finding that out in our deployment situation ... sometimes their response time is very long bacause they are contained in other situations"

Vickers is turning to the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps for help. They have been on his land for the past month as 'an extra set of eyes.'

The group is based out of Arizona, and has chapters in other parts of the U.S.

"We have, virtually, 2,000 miles, or border, that are our concern," said Texas group president Al Garza. "It covers Texas, all the way through New Mexico, Arizona and all the way through to California."

"Those are all porous borders. And the people coming thru are not your 1950-kind of people ... some of these are bad people wanting to do harm. And we are just frustrated ... we want it stopped and there is no compromise."