Border B.S. Basics
Hello Friends,
We’ve obviously been quiet the last couple of weeks. We’ve been feeling as though there hasn’t been much for us to say, as some of the basic facts of life around here have started to finally get picked up on.
It hasn’t stopped some folks from trying to piss about and fudge some words— trying to claim that the border remains “secure” in some kind of vague sense.
We’re talking about the Vice-President, of course.
Kamala Harris appears to be trying to shade things from some sort of a national security type of viewpoint, as if to say the uncontrolled border crossings and human trafficking happening right now are not some kind of a threat to the health, safety, wealth and wellbeing of American citizens— as if to say that doesn’t matter, so long as those coming across are not some sort of existential violent threat to the nation at large.
Things are getting so warped, that we find ourselves turning to a British newspaper for a kind of wide-eyed take on some of the ridiculousness. As if we are no longer able to recognize it ourselves, becoming so inured to matters.
Eagle Pass merchants are selling guns like hotcakes. That’s what the Daily Mail is reporting. They also say some residents are teaching their kids how to use weapons. That local mortuaries are full. That so many illegal aliens are drowning in the water, that the local fire department is fishing them out daily. That illegal aliens have gone onto at least one local ranch and killed the rancher’s dogs, while looking for stuff to steal. Shops are closing early, so that women and young ladies can get home and off the streets before sundown.
Kamala Harris voters will dismiss this reporting— pointing out that the Daily Mail is hardly the New York Times. They are right. That is true. But you don’t have to be the ACME of Journalism to get this right. To point out the obvious. It’s happening right out in the open, and it still seems like people are fighting not to care— fighting not to acknowledge what a disaster this is. The well-intentioned seem to still think there’s somehow going to be a way to band-aid things and make it all okay— to somehow successfully process and aid all comers in a way that won’t result in tears.
The process that exists right now is failing. It is actually brutalizing not only the illegal aliens and asylum seekers, but also those living and working along the border.
From the very beginning, activists have demanded to see “crime stats,” as if to suggest that if matters truly were dire, it would be reflected in local border area crime statistics. That a local police chief or Sheriff would be able to point at a piece of paper somewhere and say how “We’ve had a 75% increase in these sorts of violent crime, blah blah blah.” The problem we’ve always had with this mindset is that it sort of demands that people be victimized before they be taken seriously.
One shouldn’t have to wait for a rapist to climb through their window, or a burglar to break into their house, before they’re taken seriously when trying to point out an obviously bad situation that needs address.
But that is what we are reduced to, as individuals elsewhere try to ignore matters. One begins to feel that even if you went 5-10 years and charted some kind of statistical growth in violent crime, the response would be another shrug and words along the lines of: “Aw gee. That’s a shame. Too late to do anything about it now, though.”
We mentioned area mortuaries being overwhelmed, earlier. Are you aware that paupers’ graves are going up? Bodies are being laid to rest with little ceremony, and little more than make-shift crosses made out of PVC pipe to mark their places.
Photos and confirmation come from area photojournalist Auden Cabello, who readers may recall as being one of the freelancers who documented the Border Patrol “Haitian Whipping” non-event in Del Rio. Some of his drone footage helped exonerate those horseback agents. He’s been all over the place ever since.
These graves are in Eagle Pass, near the Memorial Funeral Chapel.
The graves are marked with paper name-plates. The names are almost all variations of John and Jane Doe. At least one is marked “Baby John Doe.”
You can read more about it at SecuretheBorder.us The website is the work of Sheena Rodriguez, a grass-roots border-security activist that we’ve come to know from her frequent trips to the area, trying to bring what is happening here to the attention of the state at large.
Critics of her efforts may want to handwave it all way, calling her biased— but the graves are real. The crisis is real. And folks who want to ignore that should be ashamed of themselves.
Another striking photo, this one from DPS, in Laredo - Webb County, TX. It’s just another stash house— one of many. But look at all these guys. Count the heads. DPS says they found 60 men and 13 women all crammed into a single home. Let’s assume it was a big house. 4 beds and 3 baths. Or even 8 beds. That’s still a ridiculous number of people crammed into a single place. There are probably dozens of stash houses in the Laredo area, all crammed to similar degrees.
The aliens were from Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala. All were turned over to Border Patrol, and more than likely will be back in Mexico in 24 hours or less. Most of them will probably immediately try to cross again.
Notice all of the appliances and furniture out on the concrete. One wonders if the stuff was taken out of the home initially to make room for all of the illegal aliens.
Meanwhile, 22 Texas Counties have now declared a state of invasion. As we’ve been reporting, it’s a mostly ceremonial declaration, meant to encourage the Governor of Texas to do likewise— allowing him to use Constitutional authority to secure the border— allowing the State of Texas to address immigration issues and the predations of international criminal organizations like the Cartels, without waiting for the Federal Government.
Reporter Bethany Blankley breaks it all down at The Center Square. The Center Square is basically a wire service, similar to the Texas Tribune, which allows any newspaper or other journalistic organization to reprint their reporting with attribution.
Conservative critics of the governor have been steaming mad that he hasn’t already made a declaration of invasion. His supporters point out that he’s already done more than any Governor in U.S. and Texas history.
Locally, there has been no shortage of journalists reaching out, trying to get some kind of comment from Kinney County officials about the declaration of disaster in Washington DC, and the dismay coming from New York, as the Governors of Texas and Arizona ship small numbers of illegal aliens to those cities.
It would be natural for schadenfreude to rule perhaps— it’s easy to see how some might expect a Texas Sheriff to want to dunk on these East Coast officials after some of what they’ve had to say. So far, however, no one around here has seemed willing to. Perhaps its easy to take the high road in this case— matters speak for themselves. If New York and Washington D.C. are overwhelmed with just a fraction of the numbers of illegal aliens that comparative villages like Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Brackettville, and Yuma, AZ have been seeing— what more needs to be said?
Kamala Harris and the White House keep trying to tell us all that the Border is secure. That everything is fine.
Everything is not fine.
As always, thanks for reading. Any opinions, errors or misdeeds committed in this newsletter are ours alone— and should not be taken as statements of Kinney County policy. Though we are employed at the Kinney County Sheriff’s Office, our scribblings here are kept entirely separate, and unvetted by County officials.
This is also a good moment to plug a new book published just this week about the Border Crisis. It’s by Todd Bensman, who frequent readers may recognize. Bensman is a former reporter with the Dallas Morning News, and a former intelligence analyst and Border Security expert with the Department of Public Safety— a job which saw him working closely with Homeland Security and U.S. Border Patrol. He’s now a Senior National Security Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies.
There’s a look at the cover and title. We’ve read his previous work, and highly recommend it:
Despite all of the bad news out there about the economy as railroad strikes loom, it remains a great time to be breathing the Fall air. The weather’s already turning cooler, and the High School Football season is underway. Happy to report, Kinney County’s Brackett High Tigers won a close one on the road last week in Hondo. Beating the Hondo Owls 51 to 49. Hondo’s a much bigger school— 4A classification when last we checked. Brackett did it with the help of some clutch field goals. Amazing. Back in our day, a 2A school like Brackett was lucky to have someone who could accurately kick a point-after-touchdown, let alone field goals for distance.
Video highlights are here: https://www.maxpreps.com/tx/brackettville/brackett-tigers/football/
The Tigers are in the white jerseys. It must be noted that the clips seem to favor the Tigers. Presumably, one can visit Hondo’s page on that site, and see more of their highlights.
Have a great morning, and we’ll see you again soon.
While I haven't read the book, part of the title caught my eye. "The Nation's Battle To Prevent Jihadist Infiltration" Yeah, I suppose they're doing a good job at the border. But then, Obama and Biden just fly them in and relocate them where we don't want them. But when Abbot relocates the border crossers it's a different story.