From KPHO News CBS 5 Phoenix May 24, 2011:

Border Battle Presents Challenges For Southern Arizona Ranchers
Life Along The U.S. Mexico Border Gets More Dangerous, Ranchers Say

NOGALES, Ariz. — It’s something southern Arizona ranchers deal with every day, but they said it took rancher Rob Krentz’s death to really make people pay attention to the dangers of illegal immigration.

The U.S. border with Mexico is constantly changing, from the type of people trying to cross illegally into the United States to the number of people trying to keep illegal immigrants out.

VIDEO: S. Arizona Ranchers Face New Border Issues

“Our family has been ranching here in southern Arizona along the border since about 1938,” said rancher Dan Bell.

“It’s not like it was in the days of old, where we had migrants looking for work. We’ve got this other element of smuggling involved,” Bell said.

That’s just one of many changes lately, Bell said.

There used to be National Guard posts throughout Bell’s property after President Barack Obama’s administration deployed troops there last August.

They’re all pulling out now and will be gone completely by June 1.

“So, that kind of raises some concerns,” Bell said.

More…

Dan Bell’s ranch is just west of Nogales, Arizona along the border.

I’ve taken media types on tours out on his ranch to where the fence ends, and Dan has told his story over and over again.

The statistics may show crime is down on the border (in the cities) and illegal immigration is down…but the drug cartels armed with automatic weapons are still running around.

He told CBS 5 News the sheer number of people crossing the border illegally has plummeted.

But the type of people crossing is becoming an even a bigger problem, he said.

“We’re still getting a lot of the smuggling through, and evidence of the drug smuggling coming through,” he explained.

Bell said there had been two shootings nearby in just the past few months, both involved Border Patrol agents. The second shooting resulted in the death of agent Brian Terry.

“That was just north of our ranch on our neighbors’ (property). And most likely, the people that did that came through our ranch,” Bell said. He told CBS 5 News the sheer number of people crossing the border illegally has plummeted.

But the type of people crossing is becoming an even a bigger problem, he said.

“We’re still getting a lot of the smuggling through, and evidence of the drug smuggling coming through,” he explained.

Bell said there had been two shootings nearby in just the past few months, both involved Border Patrol agents. The second shooting resulted in the death of agent Brian Terry.

“That was just north of our ranch on our neighbors’ (property). And most likely, the people that did that came through our ranch,” Bell said.

Ands the border is not secure as long as folks like Dan Bell have to live day in and day out with the fear that they might run into a trigger-happy cartel gunman while out punching cows.

MORE articles and commentaries about the border

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 26th, 2011 at 12:40 pm and is filed under border issues, border patrol, border patrol tucson sector, drug smuggling, mexican drug cartels, politics. Tags for this post: arizona ranchers, border issues, border patrol, border patrol tucson sector, border security, brian terry, dan bell, drug smugglers, Mexican drug cartels, ranchers on the border. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.