On an isolated ranch 10 miles from the Mexican border in southern Arizona, Tangye Beckham worries about what the night will bring. That's usually when her family's 100-acre ranch begins to crawl with drug and immigrant traffickers from Mexico heading north into the United States.
"They're belligerent, they carry weapons," she said. "It's a nightly problem with them being on the property. They've already tried to break in."
Recently, as she was closing one of her gates in the pre-dawn hours, Beckham found herself surrounded by a group of illegal immigrants and feared being attacked. By running to her car, she said, she was able to get away, badly shaken.
Two mountain ranges away, ranchers Christin Peterson and Sonny McCuistion have the same problem with armed Mexican smugglers crossing their properties. "It's upsetting and there's a lot of them. It hasn't decreased; there's a lot of traffic," said Peterson.
McCuistion, 87, said while out on his horse tending cattle he's seen groups of traffickers, some dressed in camouflage. One time he made a dramatic discovery. "I rode just a little ways and I said, 'What's that outta the bush?' And there was about 1,000 pounds of marijuana under those bushes."
All three ranchers scoffed at claims from Washington that crime along the U.S. side of the Mexican border has dropped dramatically and that the area is safer than ever. "They don't know what they're talking about," McCuistion replied.
Beckham, a flight paramedic and firefighter, urged Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to pay a visit to her ranch.
"I'll show her it's not a secure border," Beckham said. "I'll have her talk to my kids. And they can tell her how afraid they are, that they don't wanna go out after dark."
The people in Washington say one thing but the locals are under siege, you don't suppose politicians would lie? The entire article is an interesting read.
-----signature-----
Politicians are like diapers, they should be changed often and for the same reason.