Border Crisis Series
Cartels & Drug Trafficking
Val Verde County is like a lot of South Texas counties: sparsely populated, rugged, dry, and vast. It’s also ground zero for the border crisis. What we learned on a recent trip — talking with the sheriff, talking with Border Patrol officers and veterans, and most of all talking to the men and women who have made their lives in this part of Texas — was shocking. While the humanitarian tragedy grips the headlines, the unprecedented level of dangerous drugs flooding the border threatens to do considerable damage. The threat is existential. If the Biden Administration won't engage, Texas must.
Local Community Impact
The facts and the faces fill out the statistics we have all been hearing—that illegal immigration is surging to levels not seen in more than a decade. It’s taking a toll on this remote South Texas county. "We don't have enough resources to fix a problem that started in Washington." - Angela Prather, director of EMS and emergency management, Val Verde RMC
National Security
The southern border is a gateway for people from other countries who may want to do harm to our countries. Retired Border Patrol Agent and Del Rio resident, Manuel Rodriguez Jr. shares his experience.