We focus quite a bit on the southern border which runs along the state of Texas, but residents of other states within sight of Mexico are having issues as well. Residents of the southern end of California have been experiencing a deluge of unwanted foot traffic and the problems that go along with it. Portions of the California-Mexico border have sections of completed wall on them, but property owners near the end of any given section experience some of the worst problems because that’s where the illegal aliens walk around. Brian Silvas of Jacumba Hot Springs is in such a situation. A section of wall runs right up to the edge of his nearly 80-acre property and he witnesses a parade every day. The frustrated resident is threatening to build his own wall. (NY Post)
Dozens — or sometimes hundreds — of migrants pass through private property along the California-Mexico border daily, according to local landowners who say they feel helpless as human caravans cut through their land.
“If I had the money, I would build my own wall right here!” Jacumba Hot Springs resident Brian Silvas told CNN.
The US-Mexico border wall ends a few feet into his 78-acre property, which is about 75 miles east of San Diego, and every day he witnesses migrants trekking across his land.
While some migrants enter the country and engage in criminal activity of all sorts, even the ones who aren’t assaulting people or breaking and entering cause problems. A family living near Mr. Silvas told reporters that there are migrants camping on their property every night and lighting fires. They have dismantled their wooden property fence to use for firewood and chopped down most of the smaller trees they used to have. They leave the area littered with trash and discarded filthy clothes. They also would like some additional border wall covering the area.
Over the border in Arizona, one fourth-generation rancher explains how he has to bring a rifle to check his barn and his feeding areas every morning to make sure nobody has gotten in overnight. Migrants have cut his fences, stolen some horses, and torn apart his farm supplies. He hasn’t had to shoot anyone yet, but he dreads the day that might be coming. The numbers are too great to ignore, and increasingly, more and more of them are coming from China. (What could possibly go wrong?)
It wasn’t that long ago that all of these people saw the occasional migrant on their property, but nothing like the army that is being witnessed today. Migrants traveling alone or in small groups tend to try to stay out of sight and move through quickly. Large hordes are far bolder and begin simply taking what they want with impunity, daring people to try to stop them. The situation for taxpayers living along the border is simply intolerable.
This is a reminder of why it is not a sufficient answer to build “pieces” of the border wall as Joe Biden has halfheartedly proposed. Sections of walls don’t do much of anything because the illegal aliens quickly figure out which areas are blocked off. Then, as Brian Silvas learned, they simply start walking around the end. And if you happen to be the person who lives at the end of the stretch where the new wall is erected, you pay the price for it. And you’ll keep paying for years.
The wall needs to be finished from beginning to end. Plans have been in place since the Trump administration. New technology could allow us to more efficiently detect any who do manage to make it over and more quickly apprehend them and ship them back or throw them in prison if they are repeat offenders. None of this is beyond our capabilities but we require leadership with the motivation to get the job done. If Joe Biden won’t do it, he must be replaced by someone who will.
