Ranchers Say 'We're Living in an Occupied Country' Along US-Mexico Border Ines Pohl - Deutsche Welle
go to original October 10, 2016

Exploring both sides of the immigration issue along the United States’ border with Mexico. (DW (English))

Every few meters there's a rusty steel post holding up lines of barbed wire. From a distance you can scarcely make them out in the sandy, hilly landscape, between the cacti and the desert grass. And under the blazing sun you have to look closely to see all the places where the barbed wire has been repaired. The glint of fresh metal gives them away.

Jim Chilton is 77 years old, and has a bit of a belly. It takes him less than a minute to crawl under the fence. With that he has crossed the border between Mexico and the United States. He's hung his pale cowboy hat on one of the steel posts, but the Colt stays in its holster on his heavy leather belt - always close at hand.

Thousands of people cross their land every year. No one knows the exact figure. They leave behind tons of plastic rubbish. When cows eat it, they die a painful death. The people cut through the fence, causing further losses when the cows escape. "These days, one of my cowboys' main jobs is fixing fences," says Jim.

Above all, fewer and fewer of those who cross the border are people looking for work, hoping for a better life. Instead, they're drug smugglers controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most brutal criminal organizations in the world.

"Crossing the border has gotten way too dangerous for ordinary people looking for work," says Jim. He explains that they too are forced to carry drugs. He shows photos of bushes with women's underwear hanging off them. "Those are the trophies the criminals hang there after they've raped their victim, sometimes for days." His steely blue eyes narrow to slits as he says this. "It's wrong, what's happening here on my land, what's happening here in America."

Read the rest at Deutsche Welle

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!