Jenny Beth gets a tour of the southern border near McAllen, TX from National Border Patrol Council Spokesman Chris Cabrera. Learn how real the human smuggling problem is, how dangerous the situation is on the southern border, and how Trump's border policies stack up against Biden's.
Jenny Beth gets a tour of the southern border near McAllen, TX from National Border Patrol Council Spokesman Chris Cabrera. Learn how real the human smuggling problem is, how dangerous the situation is on the southern border, and how Trump's border policies stack up against Biden's.
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@jennybethm @NBPC_Cabrera
Chris Cabrera (00:00):
So this is the Trump wall right here. You can tell the Trump wall 'cause it has that, that metal barrier on the top. Now this has always been the entrance way they were building the rest of this wall, but when Biden took office and he, he put a stop to border wall construction, they left it open and people are running in there all times of the day and night.
Narrator (00:16):
Keeping our republic is on the line and it requires Patriots with great passion, dedication, and eternal vigilance to preserve our freedoms. Jenny Beth Martin is the co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. She's an author, a filmmaker, and one of time magazine's most influential people in the world. But the title she is most proud of is Mom To Her Boy, girl Twins. She has been at the forefront fighting to protect America's core principles for more than a decade. Welcome to the Jenny Beth Show.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:48):
Today's episode of the Jenny Beth Show is a special one. During our travels on the southern border, we met up with the spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council, Chris Cabrera, who gave us a tour of the border near Macallan, Texas. If you are listening to this episode on one of the podcast platforms, I recommend visiting Jenny best show.com to find links to the different video options so you can get the full experience. And now join me as Chris Cabrera takes us to the southern border. We, where are we going today? Right now, Chris?
Chris Cabrera (01:21):
Right now we're gonna go hit some spots. Um, one spot is, uh, is a popular, we can't get down right to the river, but we're gonna go to an area that that's frequently used by people turning themselves in. We're gonna go to some gaps in the, in the wall and then maybe try and sneak down to the river.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:39):
Okay. And we're in Macallan right
Chris Cabrera (01:41):
Now? Yeah, we're in Macallan, which is, um, well, it was the busiest station in the Border patrol. It kind of fluctuates between us and Del Rio. Um, but it is the home of the largest border patrol station in, in the United States.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:55):
And it's about three hours, three and a half hours south of San Antonio, Texas. Yeah,
Chris Cabrera (01:59):
We're about three hours south of San Antonio and about an hour, uh, inland from the point of Texas.
Jenny Beth Martin (02:07):
So you've been with Border Patrol for 22 years. The last time that we were here, we kind of talked off the record and one of the things you were saying back then, you, you were showing me some photos of what was happening, um, on the bridge coming into the country and then underneath the country and away, I mean under the bridge and then away from the, the ports of entry. So what's happening today?
Chris Cabrera (02:31):
Well, what, what border patrol we've traditionally, what we always deal with is between the ports of entry, the illegal entries, um, and for quite some time now, the majority of traffic is coming illegally, obviously through the, between the ports of entry. Um, it's actually easier for people to cross into the country illegally than it is legally. Um, even with asylum seekers, you have asylum seekers that are, are looking to come in and the bridge is only taking X amount of people day and they say, well, we can't handle anymore. So, you know, you're gonna have to wait. With border patrol, we don't have a a no vacancy sign. So whoever comes in, we have to deal with them, we have to take it, and they know that, they know it's gonna overcrowd us and they push these people to get us overcrowded, get our manpower, uh, number stretched in, and then they continue to cross the drugs and the high value, um, what they consider high value, um, crossers people that, that don't wanna get caught. And if we don't have the manpower to keep up with people that are turning themselves in, what shot do we have with the ones that are running?
Jenny Beth Martin (03:36):
Right. What kind of changes have you seen in the, in what's happening at the border since Title 42 expired and then between this presidential administration and the previous ones? So between Biden and Trump?
Chris Cabrera (03:52):
Well, between Biden and Trump, it was when, when President Trump left office, things were as controlled as I've seen them in the last 10 or 15 years. Um, slower crossings, slower rate of crossings. People were getting sent back to, to Mexico, whether or not they were from Mexico, which I had never seen that before. And we were able to concentrate on the people that were trying to avoid detection. When President Biden came in, the floodgates just opened and our, our numbers doubled, tripled quad quadrupled monthly. So they took title or not Title 42, they took the remaining Mexico program away, then they put it back in, but only part way. And we saw the numbers jump sky high. Now with Title 42 ending, it's slowed somewhat. It, it has slowed quite a bit. Um, but it's, it is kind of like, uh, a cauldron. It's just like, it's bubbling.
(04:51):
We, we can see thousands of people on, on the south side, we see, you know, mass numbers of, of Venezuelans and, and Colombians. If you go down to the Brownsville at the bank, you just see encampments everywhere. You look Osa you can see the same thing with, with the Haitians over there. So they're coming across at some point. We don't know when. Um, the, the theory is that nobody really knows what's gonna happen here in the near future. And I think they're just waiting to see if people get released. If they don't get released. And I mean, for years now, different Homeland Security secretaries have, have made trips to Central and South America saying, don't come. If you come, we'll, we'll send you back. Um, and, and that's always been said, but people, what they listen to are their, their family and friends, their relatives.
(05:40):
So the ones that make the trip here, if they get released and call back home or send messages back home, that's what's gonna activate this. And make no mistake, if you walk here from Guatemala and you see me standing on the riverbank, you're not turning around. You're just waiting. And that's somewhere where you walk from. Imagine if you came from Haiti or China or India or Bangladesh. I mean, you're not just gonna turn around and go home, you've already paid. So I think they're coming, we just don't know when. Um, we don't know where, but it, you can feel that there's like this tension when you get down there that something's gonna happen soon.
Jenny Beth Martin (06:17):
When you and I first met back in 20 14, 1 of the things that you said then, and you said since then to me several different times, is that what we need to do is enforce the law. And when we enforce the law, the message gets out mm-hmm.
Chris Cabrera (06:44):
Yeah. You know, people made this big deal about, oh, we're gonna be enforcing a Title eight laws now that, um, title four to two's gone away. Well, title Eight's always been there. We should've been enforcing that thing all along. I mean, it never went away. It's been on since, since I joined the patrol and it'll be here long after. So it, it just seems odd that, that people are, are, are propping up the, this new law enforcement action that we're doing is something new when it, when it's always been there. Um, the other thing is with, with with anchor babies, um, we have not necessarily birth right citizenship, but we'll have a kid that comes over unaccompanied and their parents are already here in the United States, and then they let the kid has an asylum claim. So the kid's pending a claim and they let the kid stay with the parent who is here illegally and, and the parent is supposed to be the anchor, not the child.
(07:39):
But yet the way we're doing things is we're letting the child anchor the parent here. Um, we we're doing things backwards. Uh, we're, we're coming up with new ways to, to grant asylum for people, whether it's, uh, abused Housewives, which is, you know, it's a despicable thing. And, and I don't agree with that, you know, at all. But it, it's not necessarily an asylum claim. Living in a bad neighborhood is not an asylum claim. Um, being L G B T Q is not an asylum claim. And I even heard, uh, I read something in the news a couple weeks ago, they were trying to say, limited English made you a vulner vulnerable citizen there, therefore you would get paroled into the country if it, if it passed. And I mean, that only excludes like four or five countries globally. Wow. You know, so hopefully that doesn't go through. But they're just, they're, they're trying to make it easier to circumvent the law and we're putting policy above law, which last time I checked is not the way things worked.
Jenny Beth Martin (08:42):
No, it, well, it's not supposed to work that way. I, it, I guess that's how it's functioning right now. But it's not working.
Chris Cabrera (08:50):
No, it's not. You know, our, our numbers have dropped since Title 42, uh, went away. And, you know, part of that is, I mean, it's a good thing the numbers dropped. We don't know when it's gonna pick back up, but people are, are touting this, oh, the numbers dropped. The numbers dropped. Well, they, they did drop somewhat, but they're not back to where they should be. And just because you're better than bad, that doesn't make it good. Okay. And then I think that's what they're, they're saying, look, we, we've made a, you know, we, we, we, there's a 12 foot flood and now it's only eight. Well, we're still eight feet below water. Right. You know, it's not necessarily a good thing. So it's, it's better, but it's not good.
Jenny Beth Martin (09:27):
Why have the numbers dropped since Title 42? Well,
Chris Cabrera (09:30):
People just don't know what's gonna happen with the, these new programs. Okay. People don't, don't know. We don't know. They don't know. Nobody knows. But what we do know is nobody's turned around and went home. 'cause Got it. We still see 'em there.
Jenny Beth Martin (09:42):
Right. What are some of the things you have seen at the border that just stand out in your mind, whether it's recently or in the years you've worked for Border Patrol?
Chris Cabrera (09:53):
Uh, I think the majority that, that hits me the hardest is anything to do with children. Um, whether it's kids that are unaccompanied, um, kids that are telling stories that how they traveled through, uh, Mexico and the other countries unaccompanied. Um, had a young girl about six, eight months ago that 13 years old, and she walked up, turned herself in, and, and all she did was she just handed us her her birth certificate and just cried the entire time. Couldn't get a word out of her. And, um, lord knows what happened to that poor young girl. And we were there with her about an hour and a half until the bus came and we got her back into the station and got her to, to the hospital. But, you know, Lord can only imagine what happened to her. Um, finding, we, we find a lot of, um, dead bodies, unfortunately.
(10:46):
But every now and then, we'll, we'll find children. Um, I had, uh, we've had kids pass right in front of us, uh, heat stroke. Um, you know, we, we've had a lot of, I think one that sticks with me the most is when I was working on, on boats, there was, uh, a young girl that was missing. She had drowned or they thought she had drowned. We couldn't find her. And so they, we were out there, uh, searching the river for a couple days and, you know, you always hear that they're gonna drag the river. Right. So I never, and I always thought, you know, like some kind of net or something. I, I didn't know what it was. Well, and I don't know how it's done, but I know in Mexico it might be done a little different. But, uh, they had a, a gaff, like a, a stick with a hook on it, and they were just dragging the bottom of this river.
(11:37):
And they pulled her up. And, and that just really, really hit me. You know, that this was a little girl, you know, this wasn't a, a grown woman who, who, who decided to do this. It was a little girl. Um, you know, you see stuff that happens to adults and it, it's sad. But, you know, they're adults. They, they made their decision, they made their choice. But kids, for a kid to come across a seven year old girl to come across unaccompanied in care of a smuggler, that's, that's not, I mean, that's, but for the grace of God, I was born here and not over there. Right. And had I been born over there and I wanted to come here, I'd come, you know, you're not gonna tell me otherwise. I'll, I'll go where I want to go. Right. And if my kid had to come, the only person that kid's coming with is me. I, I don't care who I know, or brother, father, sister, uncle, no, this is my kid. And there's nobody more, uh, qualified to care for that kid than me. But for the parent to come first and the kid to follow, that's just unacceptable. That, that just doesn't fly in my book. You know, you, you can't send a kid down here by themselves.
Jenny Beth Martin (12:44):
How did it make you feel when you, when you saw that happen to
Chris Cabrera (12:49):
Girl, girl? No, it's just, it's just a shock. I mean, you, you, you don't even, it, it, it doesn't even seem real at the time. You're, you're seeing it, but you can't believe what you're seeing. And you're, you're just looking at it like, what is this? And just doesn't, it, it, it doesn't make sense even though you're seeing it.
Jenny Beth Martin (13:10):
What is it about our policies that are encouraging parents to come and then the children to come later or for children to come alone?
Chris Cabrera (13:18):
When Title 42 was in place with the remaining Mexico on President Trump, everybody went back. Everybody, man, woman, child, family, everybody. Um, then President Biden ended Title four, not Title 42 remain in Mexico. He just flat out canceled it a couple days later. They had to put it back in place or maybe a week or so. Well, Mexico said, well, hold up there. This is our country that they were remaining in and we're gonna pick who comes back. So they made the decision that if you're a family unit and you have a child, six or under you, you do not go back to Mexico. They don't want 'em that young. But if you have a child and your youngest is seven or over, then they will take those people back in Mexico. So if you had a seven year old child and you got caught, you're going back to Mexico.
(14:06):
So the parent would come, come ahead and then send a seven year old by themselves. And the craziest part is we're giving you that child back at the end of this, you know, you're gonna send this child in care of a smuggler, three countries on top of a train, and we're gonna give 'em back to you. I can't leave my kid in an air conditioned car outside of Walmart for five minutes to run in and get some milk. But you can put yours on top of a train and not only are will, we'll give them back to you, we will take them to your doorstep. We'll, we'll complete the smuggling process for you. That's what blows my mind. Um, I, I just, I, I can't, I can't understand why, why, why, why, and I, I guess it, it's money, but make sure why, um, child services doesn't get involved and say, look, you know what, if you're gonna do this, you, you, you're, you're forfeiting your right to that child. It's, I know it's, nothing's that simple, but it's, it's at least in a di idea to, to start building on.
Jenny Beth Martin (15:11):
Right. Did you think that romaine in Mexico under Trump, man, woman, child, no matter what was a better
Chris Cabrera (15:19):
Policy? Oh, it worked because it was a deterrent and
Jenny Beth Martin (15:22):
It kept families together and sort of splitting
Chris Cabrera (15:24):
Them up. Yeah. And, and not only that, you know, people, it, it wasn't splitting up families because people weren't coming. Right. They said, you know what, we're not coming as long as this is in play. And then we went ahead and, you know, it is, it's a new administration. It's their ball game, their ball their game, make the rules however they want. But if you're gonna, it's like if you're, if you're changing oil in your car, right? You need a bucket. You know, so if you're going to make some changes, you gotta account for what's the result of those changes are. But these guys didn't have a bucket. They said, we're changing it. Okay. It's your game. Change what you wanna change, but what are you changing it to? And and they didn't change it to anything. They just removed it and there was nowhere to catch the overflow. And, and that's where it, it all went wrong. We have a big problem with God aways. Right? Right. So there's a chain link fence up here that's attached to, um, uh, a Catholic school. And in that chain, the, the brush inside it is super, super thick.
(16:29):
But in that chain link fan, this is not barb wire, this is chain link. And there's holes literally every 20 feet, huge holes that it's, it's doesn't even make sense to patch it up because there's just another 1, 10, 15, 20 feet away. And I think that right there speaks volumes to what we're dealing with as far as the got away traffic. Right. You know, here's some of those. There's one of those holes right there.
Jenny Beth Martin (16:55):
Okay.
Chris Cabrera (17:01):
So
(17:03):
This hole is, people come up through these trails in here and it is super, super thick in here. I mean, it is like to the point where you, you can't walk through without getting scraped and scratched up. There's a, there's a ton of ticks in here also that, that gets you also, it's snake breeding season. Okay. Um, and you'll see one of these every maybe 20, 30 feet. Now this, you gotta kind of ignore this. These are ours. Okay. These are foot scuffs. The reason that's there is not too long ago, we had somebody that, that, uh, somebody that, that got hurt, one of the illegals got hurt. We had to bring 'em out on a, on a stretcher, on a, on a backboard. So we pinned it open with, you know, we pin pinned it open so that we could get him out. You could get the stretcher through it. Yeah.
Jenny Beth Martin (17:44):
So then how far are we from Mexico? Right
Chris Cabrera (17:47):
Here. Right here. About a, you got about a half mile of this. Then you have a, a, a, um, little canal. And then you have another half mile of worse than this. And then you have the water. But if you walk down here, even walking down this way, you'll see even in the, in the brush areas, you'll see big openings like this. And if it was just one or two, it would be easy. 'cause we could just wait up here, you know, mirror where the hole's at, and then wait for 'em to come across. But there's so many, I mean, you'd have to station 40, 50 agents out here. I mean, wow. They're just, they're everywhere. Um, but, and this is a chain link fence. This is a lot harder to, to get through than say like a, a barbed wire or like a, a a a, a goat fence. A pat a pen fence. You know, those, you need to snip 'em or, or go over the top. This is a lot harder. But they managed to do it. And at first we would patch 'em up, but it got to the point where we might as well just build a new fence. But it, it goes all the way down that way. And this is really, I mean, this is really, really thick brush
Jenny Beth Martin (18:45):
It and it, it's half a, they have to go through half a mile of this, and then it's another half a mile that's even thicker mm-hmm.
Chris Cabrera (18:55):
It, it's real thick in there. There's almost everything is a, is is a thornbush. And if it's not a thornbush, we call it a wait a minute vine. 'cause it, it grabs you and you have to wait a minute to Oh, to untangle yourself. Right. Not to mention the bees that are in there. And this time of year, the the rattlesnake, uh, mating season. So that's, that's always a a And then the brush gets so high in places that even if you think you're going straight south or, or straight north or east or west, you always end up angling around. So what you would think would be a good 30, uh, or maybe 15, 20 minute walk ends up being an hour, two hours.
Jenny Beth Martin (19:33):
Okay. That, that is, uh,
Chris Cabrera (19:35):
And it is, it's real, it's real quick to dehydrate down here. And then you're in brush this thick, so you don't get the, the breeze.
Jenny Beth Martin (19:41):
So then have you found people in here Yes. Who have, who perished? Yes. And then if we walk down further, we'd see another one.
Chris Cabrera (19:51):
We'll see. Well, we can walk down and Okay. See a couple more. Regardless of what the ser the, the White House is telling you, we're still releasing most people. Yes. Even if border patrol's not releasing them, ice is releasing them.
Jenny Beth Martin (20:05):
So they're just releasing them for some court date in the future. That might be a decade from now. So
Chris Cabrera (20:12):
If they're not willing to turn themselves in, see this place, they just took it down. If they're not, if they're not gonna turn themselves in to get let go, there's a reason they're not turning themselves in. It's 'cause they're gonna do time because they have some type of criminal history and most likely criminal history in the United States. Probably something pretty vile. There's another good one right there. That's like a Winnie the pool hole. Right. There
Jenny Beth Martin (20:44):
It is. Okay. One more time. The Trump
Chris Cabrera (20:49):
Wall. Yeah. So this is the Trump wall right here. And there's actually another down there. It's, it's another 15 foot drop. So, okay. This is a levee wall. So even that chain link fence is very effective. Um, but then you can tell the Trump wall, 'cause it has that, that metal barrier on the top. Now this is always been the entrance way. They were building the rest of this wall, but they left that gap open because the earth movers would come in. Obviously they don't fit through there, the cranes, those huge dump trucks. So they made a path for 'em to go down there. Well, when Biden took office and he, he put a stop to border wall funding or border wall construction, not necessarily funding, they left it open. So now you have this gentleman's club that gets pretty busy and people are running in there all times of the day and night. Um, and then I'll show you from, well, we can see it from over here if you see this brush line right here. Yes. Okay. That brush line goes to that levee. So people will jump over that brush line or jump over that levee and get into this brush line. You see that brush line comes here and then it breaks west or breaks east, but it also comes under this culvert. So either they're gonna take this brush line straight to this guy's property or they're gonna go that way. It just like
Jenny Beth Martin (22:01):
Makes a path
Chris Cabrera (22:01):
Right. To as much, and not only that, you have this culvert. Right. So they don't even have to expose themselves to, you know, and so they're, they're about neck deep in there. They duck down just a little bit. They're only exposed for a good two or three seconds on that side and here. But once they get over, there's really not much we can do.
Jenny Beth Martin (22:22):
The bus back there, what is it
Chris Cabrera (22:23):
Doing? It's going to pick up, uh, people that are in custody.
Jenny Beth Martin (22:26):
That bus is going to pick people up. If you're not like a hardened criminal, you can get in that bus and get out of here and go to whatever the
Chris Cabrera (22:35):
Next meeting they're gonna, they're gonna release you in the country.
Jenny Beth Martin (22:37):
So the people are going to this open air bar in the oldest township in Texas, right there. These are bad guys. Yeah.
Chris Cabrera (22:45):
They're, they're trying to avoid detection bad. Yeah. They're, they're trying to get away. Yeah. This is the Aldo, uh, port of entry. It, it's just a vehicle bridge. It's not a pedestrian bridge. Reason being, it's almost, uh, two and a half, three miles long. So it's like a mile and a half on the US side. And then probably equal that or more on the Mexican side. So they don't allow, uh, pedestrians. Um, but yeah, we're gonna go down, they're gonna parallel it down south and hit the uh, um, one of the popular crossing, not crossing points, but marshaling points. And here, if you look at it, you know, even if you were, once that wall went up right there, and this tells you that walls work. Once that wall went up there, this area was nothing but drug smuggling. At one point before that, that small wall went up because they would mule the drugs up through here and then get into a neighborhood.
(23:37):
Right. And then every morning, seven 30 and every afternoon, four 30 during school zone time, they would throw it in a vehicle. Initiate pursuit. We can't pursue in school zones, obviously for safety reasons. I mean, we can, but we don't. Right. Um, and once that wall went up, there was only one way, one one way in, one way out. Either you're gonna try and lug this thing up over a wall or you're gonna have to go through the main entrance and that turned this area from a all drugs to nothing but people. So it does work. It does work. Regardless of what people will say. Um, it, it will slow 'em down, but it'll slow you down just enough for me and my friends to get there and,
Jenny Beth Martin (24:16):
And for the school to Yeah. Not have to deal with
Chris Cabrera (24:18):
It. And that's like what we were talking about earlier. If we're gonna play this game, we wanna play it where it's, it's suited to our advantage. Um, where it's safe for the community. It's safe for me, it's safe for the guy that I'm chasing. Um, but mainly the community. We don't wanna have this stuff out there where, where somebody can get hurt. Now, this right here, I saw this yesterday. You see that in the middle of the road? Mm-hmm.
Jenny Beth Martin (24:41):
It's a shoe,
Chris Cabrera (24:41):
Right? Yeah. It's a little kid shoe.
Jenny Beth Martin (24:46):
And so the river is
Chris Cabrera (24:48):
From here. It's about a mile south. Okay. And then it curves up.
Jenny Beth Martin (24:53):
Alright. So if they were just walking across that, they're just walking through hot desert, jungle. I don't even know what you call Just brush.
Chris Cabrera (25:01):
Yeah. Brush country. It's always a crap shoot out here walking in the, in the high grass. Usually if you're, you're near a rattlesnake, you'll hear it. Sometimes you just step on it. You know, we've had some guys with, I mean we have snake chaps that most people wear, but not everybody. And we've had some guys that get either, I have know one guy that got hit in the calf and it was pretty long recovery. Another guy got hit on the, on the heel of his hand. On the, on the palm. Right? Right. By the thumb. You know, the other thing that, I don't know if I told you this already, but this has always stood out with me. And I had a conversation with, not the mayor now, but the previous mayor. And he was saying how, you know, the valley's safe and there's no problems.
(25:42):
And I said, look, I'm not saying it's not safe 'cause it's, it's a fairly safe place. I said, but there are problems. And I said, we have cartel problems. We have cartel problems immediately to the south. We have some in town with us. And he goes, no, that, that's just a myth. And I said, okay, well where are our waterfront homes? And he said, what do you mean? And I said, well, if you look at any city, major city, small city, even a good-sized town, and you have a natural waterway, whether it's a river, a lake, an ocean, even a good-sized creek, you're gonna have million dollar homes on that waterway. We have the Rio Grand River. And you can't say it's because international boundary, because the Detroit River, hell, the Great Lakes International. Um, so where are our million dollar homes? How come we don't have that? 'cause people don't feel safe. And if they felt safe, we'd be going through rich neighborhood right now. But we're not.
Jenny Beth Martin (26:38):
What did he say to them?
Chris Cabrera (26:40):
He didn't respond. But I mean, you would think about it. I mean, it's not like the guy that owns this is making a killing off his crops.
Jenny Beth Martin (26:51):
Right. You know? No, he's not at all. And he's, he doesn't have a house set up here by the, the river.
Chris Cabrera (26:58):
The only thing you'll see are, are fishing shacks, but the people don't stay there at night.
Jenny Beth Martin (27:04):
'cause they know something's going on. Yeah.
Chris Cabrera (27:09):
And and that's I think to me, that, that speaks volumes is where's that million dollar homes? So normally this is the route that they'll walk up and they'll either come up this way or they'll go up under the bridge. I'd go up under the bridge, but I don't think he'd make it in that. So, but if we see, you know, but like I said, it's the time of day. I don't think anybody's coming anyway. It's already getting to a hundred. So
Jenny Beth Martin (27:35):
Yeah. And it's hot.
Chris Cabrera (27:37):
E p s put this up. I, I think it's good and it's bad. I mean, it, it keeps you from going that way, but at the same time, if you wanna cross it, you're gonna cross it. And now you got all kinds of cuts that I gotta deal with. Mm-hmm. And that stuff is nasty the way those barbs are. They go in and they don't come out. Right. And see that's another thing we're looking at, right. Like we have
(28:01):
Border patrol doing this job. Border patrol from all over the country is helping out. And we have some air marshals, we have some US marshals, we have D h s that's helping out, even some customs guys off the bridge and ice are coming to help out. Um, and then you have Federal Fish and Wildlife, and you have state fish and wildlife, then you have D P Ss, that's local d p s statewide. Um, and then you have the Texas National Guard and you have, you know, Florida, Idaho, all these other national guards that have come in to help us. And then we have Florida State Police that'll come in to help us, which is great. We appreciate it. But at the same time, just with that, we can't even solve this problem of people turning themselves in. That doesn't even include the ones that are trying to get away.
Jenny Beth Martin (28:48):
Well that's because our country isn't supposed to have this many people coming across the border. It, the law doesn't allow for it. And there's a reason for it. And part of it is the personnel and the manpower to be able to handle it.
Chris Cabrera (29:02):
Yeah. And if, if they would make this a legislative fix and they would say, Hey, this is, we're gonna follow the law and if we don't like this law, we're gonna change this law. But we're gonna follow whatever law there is. Then our people, and even the people that are coming to help us can shore up the God aways, whether it's people and drugs coming north, or guns and money going south. We could secure this thing. And then once they secure it, then you start doing, uh, immigration reform. Because a lot of people, what I hear, at least this is one of the things that stood out when President Trump ran back in, what was it, 16, right? He was for immigration reform after securing the border, which makes the most sense, right? Because what in 86 Reagan did, uh, amnesty. Yes. And they never reformed the system.
(29:57):
And so to me it, i i, I think it is, is my sink is overflowing. Um, so what am I gonna do? Am I gonna mop or am I gonna turn off the water? Right. Gonna turn off the water. But with immigration reform, first you're just mopping, but there's more water coming down. You're never gonna fix the problem. Right. And so that's what these guys need to do is turn off the damn water, secure it, didn't figure out what they wanted to do. Everybody stays, everybody goes a mix of some sort. Who cares? Just get it done. And we're at, at the, uh, Anzel DOIs, uh, it's a county park, um, that's, uh, Rio Grande River and d p s and, and, uh, game Wars, you know, they launched their boats outta here. But the interesting part is, is this park is closed, um, because Catholic Charities has taken it over as a, as a migrant shelter. So our county residents don't get to enjoy their park, but yet less than a mile from here, there's a park owned by the Diocese of Brownsville, which owns Catholic Charities. So they, um, don't use their park to house migrants. They use our park. And now our park can't be used by our taxpayers, which to me, I mean, I guess you gotta put people somewhere, but it, it, it does a disservice to the tax to our taxpayers that, that can't use all this stuff here. And your local
Jenny Beth Martin (31:17):
Community. Yeah. What happens in this park today and what used to happen? How's it changed?
Chris Cabrera (31:24):
This is, I mean, it's, it's, you see it, it's, it's a nice little park, you know, um, normally during the week it's slow. On the weekends people come through, uh, you know, family barbecues, uh, Easter's real big out here, kids playing in the water. Um, you know, there's a boat dock. People get on jet skis. Um,
Jenny Beth Martin (31:41):
And I see people in the water over
Chris Cabrera (31:43):
There. Yeah. And the, the Mexican side has, has a park as well. Okay. Um, especially Easter. It's, it's a big deal down here. Um, but now the park is closed. The, the park is closed to the general public, uh, down towards the back, that yellow fencing, you can see where Catholic charities has come in and, uh, I guess got permission from the county to use the park. So now our local families can't use the park. So.
Jenny Beth Martin (32:07):
Alright. And then do people try to cross here? Yes.
Chris Cabrera (32:10):
Yeah. This is a big crossing point for, um, both people that are turning themselves in and trying to get away. If they're turning themselves in, they'll, they'll swim across right here or right through here, um, and try and turn themselves into some law enforcement in the park if they can find any. And then if they go a little up river and you see the brushy areas, they'll cut through there and those are the ones that are, are trying to get away
Jenny Beth Martin (32:31):
And it'll take you back over where we were. Right.
Chris Cabrera (32:33):
Yeah. And, and it's a real thick, uh, real densely vegetated area. It is very easily get to get turned around lost. Uh, unfortunately, uh, it is sad to say, but I mean, you could be less than half a mile away from a river. But the, the, the dehydration will still get you,
Jenny Beth Martin (32:52):
Is it deep here? Um, can, if you can't swim, can you get across
Chris Cabrera (32:56):
Here in this area? It, it's, you know, maybe waist chest deep up in, in here. But further down this way in, in the good, we call it the good water, it's between, uh, 8, 15, 20 feet deep. Okay. Um, and there are areas a little farther up river where it gets even deeper than that. 70, 80, 80 feet. Uh, so it is, the average in this area is 20 feet. Um, the scary part about this river is obviously the current's always gonna come down river, but you can, the light breeze we have always pushes up river. So the surface it looks very, very calm, but underneath it, it's, it's moving pretty quick. It, there's a lot of obstructions. There's picnic tables, there's cars, believe it or not, there's all kinds of stuff that you can get your foot caught on and, and never, never surface.
Jenny Beth Martin (33:41):
Well, and you, I see it, I don't know if the video camera will pick it up, but I see it kind of churning and spinning. Yeah. It's going this way and that way at the same time. Well, this has been a really good tour. It's really hot right now. It's a hundred degrees, right? Yeah. Probably over a hundred degrees at this point, at this time of day, normally there are not a lot of crossings. Correct?
Chris Cabrera (34:01):
Yeah. Normally you're not gonna have a lot of crossings in the heat of the day. Um, usually early morning, uh, late evening while if they're turning themselves in, they'll come in where it's daylight, they can see where they're going. Um, because they're, they're trying to turn themselves in. They don't wanna, you know, turn an ankle or step on a snake or something. But once it gets dark, then from, uh, nightfall to about four or five in the morning, it's just constant people running. So,
Jenny Beth Martin (34:26):
And that makes it, it, it gives them the cover of darkness and it's cooler, but it also, I would imagine makes it even tougher in those deep dense, brushy areas to move through.
Chris Cabrera (34:38):
Yeah. And it's, you know, with, with the heat, I mean, it's still hot here at night, you know, not this hot obviously, but there, when you're in the brushy areas, the wind's not moving and, and it gets, and it's easy to get lost. It's easier to get lost at night than it is during the day. 'cause he didn't have the sun to guide off of, so.
Jenny Beth Martin (34:51):
Right. Um, we covered a lot of topics. Is there anything that you want to mention that I maybe did not ask you?
Chris Cabrera (35:00):
You know, I think we talked about it a little earlier. I, I think what people need to realize is this, these crossings affect us in the short term, three or four or five days. Um, but after that they get released in the country. They don't affect us anymore. It affects the rest of the country. It affects the, the Floridas, it affects the North Carolinas. It affects the, the, the Wisconsins, the, um, Idahos, uh, Kansas. 'cause they don't stay here. They go to the rest of the country. Same with the drugs. We have some drugs down here, but for the most part, we don't have an opioid problem. We don't have a meth problem down here. So people need to wake up and realize that this is not our problem as much as it is, is their problem. It it's gonna affect them much greater in the long term than it will affect us.
Jenny Beth Martin (35:44):
And you have always contended that if we would enforce the law mm-hmm.
Chris Cabrera (35:52):
Exist. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, mandatory detention, mandatory removal will stop the, uh, the beacon effect. The, uh, we'll leave a light on for you effect, you know, tell people to stop beckoning people here. Uh, you start sending them back, it, it, it, it shuts down that pool factor. And then we start reforming this system and but enforce the laws, enforce the laws that are on the books. And if for some reason Congress feels that they don't like the laws that are on the books, change 'em. Right. And if you don't change 'em, we still have to enforce 'em. So laws' in their court,
Jenny Beth Martin (36:25):
And if you change the law, but you don't enforce any of the changes, it doesn't matter anyway. Exactly. We have to have faith that they're going to be enforced for any of them to to matter to the people who are coming across to the citizens of the country to you who put your life on the line every single day.
Chris Cabrera (36:42):
Exactly. Yeah. I mean, if, if they're not gonna enforce it, then well, what's the point of being here? So they need to do their job. If they wanna fix this problem, if they care, if anybody in Washington DC caress about what happens to these children throughout this journey, then they'll fix this problem. But if they don't care, we just continue to ignore it. And right now it looks like they don't care. No,
Jenny Beth Martin (37:03):
Not at all. It's, it's a terrible thing. And it harms these kids. It harms the kids in America. It wind up being harmed from the drugs that are happening in their families. It's just, it is a, a bad situation. I hope that our conversation today and the other conversations I've been having along the border help shed light on what's happening so that we can elect people who will work to fix this problem. Well, Chris Cabra, thank you so much for showing me the border today in Macallan, Texas. And thank you for your time, not just today, but over the last decade, getting to know me and explain to me what's happening in this border. Thank you so much for your time today. Not a
Chris Cabrera (37:39):
Problem. I'm always available if you email me.
Jenny Beth Martin (37:41):
Thank you.
Narrator (37:42):
The Jenny Beth Show is hosted by Jenny Beth Martin, produced by Kevin Mohan and directed by Luke Livingston. The Jenny Beth Show is a production of Tea Party Patriots action. For more information, visit tea party patriots.org.
Jenny Beth Martin (38:02):
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