Texas Rancher Sees Increase in Human Smuggling 80 Miles from Border

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by Bob Price 13 Nov 2014, 5:26 AM PDT

FALFURRIAS, Texas – After slowing down the past few months, a rancher in Brooks County says the numbers of illegal immigrants crossing his ranch 80 miles from the Texas-Mexico border is once again on the increase. Dr. Mike Vickers was speaking to volunteer reserve deputies of the Brooks County Sheriff’s Office and Breitbart Texas when he said he has noticed more and larger groups once again crossing his ranch. The ranch is located between the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint and the rest area on Highway 281 which is a common pickup area for illegal immigrants after they have circumvented the check point.

“Over the past couple of weeks,” Dr. Vickers told Breitbart Texas, “we have noticed groups as large as 15 to 20 crossing our ranch. It had slowed down for a couple of months, but it has picked up significantly just lately.”

Vickers described encountering a group of about 15 illegal immigrants last week. “They admitted they were lost and didn’t know where they were heading,” he explained. “I asked them to sit down and wait for Border Patrol agents and they did.”

He said they are seeing much more traffic recently, he felt, because of the rumors of President Obama’s threatened executive amnesty. Human smuggling traffic through the ranches had slowed down recently because of the Operation Strong Safety ordered by Texas Governor Rick Perry and the deployment of the Texas National Guard to the border.

Department of Public Safety troopers and rangers have also been working in Brooks County along with search teams of the Texas State Guard according to Brooks County Chief Deputy Benny Martinez.

Dr. Vickers was meeting with members of the Border Brotherhood of Texas, a group of certified peace officers, mostly from the Rio Grande Valley communities, who volunteer their time to drive 80-100 miles one-way to volunteer their time to patrol as Brooks County Reserve Deputies with no pay. Vickers was donating some much needed equipment on behalf of the Texas Border Volunteers to the Border Brotherhood of Texas to help improve officer safety and public safety while they are working the highways of Brooks County.

“These guys are doing great work,” Vickers said, speaking of the Reserve Deputy Program created by Donna ISD Acting-Police Chief Daniel Walden. “Their presence is being noticed by the community as well as human smugglers who have had to change their tactics in reaction to their presence.”

Vickers donated several cases of road flares to assist deputies while they are working traffic accidents or more frequently, abandoned vehicles after human smugglers bail out of their vehicles with their human cargo and run off into the woods. Vickers made the donation to Reserve Deputy Walden and Reserve Deputy Cameron Coleman seen in the picture above.

“We are very grateful to the Vickers and other members of the local community,” said Reserve Deputy Walden. “Their assistance both financially and through the donation of much needed equipment has made it possible for us to bring on more law enforcement officers to help Brooks County.”

Vickers wife, Linda Vickers, had previously presented Walden and the Border Brotherhood of Texas with a donation from the Texas Border Volunteers group that helps patrol the ranches in the area.

The Border Brotherhood of Texas is a group of certified peace officers. They volunteer their time, and often their own money, to drive to Brooks County to serve on 12-hour shifts patrolling the highways looking for human smugglers, drug traffickers and other criminal activity. More information about the group can be found on their Facebook page.

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