Jenny Beth concludes her series with border sheriffs with Sheriff Brad Coe of Kinney County, Texas. Sheriff Coe discusses the problems his county faces with human smuggling and how it has increased under the Biden Administration. He also talks about how strict enforcement discourages would-be illegal immigrants from entering through his county.
Jenny Beth concludes her series with border sheriffs with Sheriff Brad Coe of Kinney County, Texas. Sheriff Coe discusses the problems his county faces with human smuggling and how it has increased under the Biden Administration. He also talks about how strict enforcement discourages would-be illegal immigrants from entering through his county.
Brad Coe (00:00):
And since Biden took office, everything we did as far as immigration goes, tripled the number of aliens we caught. Tripled the number of smugglers we caught, tripled the number of guns we seized because of this. Tripled everything across the board tripled. So human smugglers we're talking, we're gonna do over a thousand this year. It's been a, it's been a tsunami.
Narrator (00:19):
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's 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 (00:51):
Today's episode is our last in the series with border sheriffs for now, having followed this issue for more than a decade. The sad reality is that the problem probably isn't going away anytime soon at lease on until someone has the guts to do the right thing. Sheriff Brad Coe of Kenny County, Texas knows that better than most. Before he served as sheriff, he served with a border patrol in Kenny County for more than 30 years. In this episode, we'll hear about the many challenges Bradco faces, including having to cover such a large rural county with very few deputies. Sheriff Bradco, thank you so much for having us here in your county, Kenny County, Texas. Um, your county has a small portion of the county is on the border, is that correct? That's right.
Brad Coe (01:40):
You know, thank you for being here today to kind of get this out to everybody. But yes, we have 60 miles of what I call riverfront property.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:47):
Okay. And then how big is your county otherwise, otherwise
Brad Coe (01:49):
We're, uh, the 27th largest in the state. We're 1,369 square miles.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:54):
Okay. That is, and the 27th largest in the state. You've got how many counties in tech?
Brad Coe (01:59):
2 54.
Jenny Beth Martin (02:00):
Yeah. So that's, it's a very large county. Yeah,
Brad Coe (02:02):
We're bigger than Rhode Island.
Jenny Beth Martin (02:03):
Wow. Wow. And how many deputies and do you have?
Brad Coe (02:08):
I have six full-time deputies and eight part-time
Jenny Beth Martin (02:10):
Deputies. Okay. So that is not very many people at all to cover a large amount of land?
Brad Coe (02:15):
No, I mean, we've got, of course, 99% of it's privately owned. It's all agriculture. Uh, we've got 3,200 people in the whole county. Okay. So we're kind of, the density is, is on in Frackville South, plus four Clark Springs. There's another 300 people that live outside the city limits, live out in the county.
Jenny Beth Martin (02:32):
Alright. And then, um, you, you've been sheriff now, this is your second term. Second term you'll be running again for reelection next year. Yep. And then what did you do before you were sheriff?
Brad Coe (02:43):
I was with the Border Patrol here in Kenny County for right, almost 31 years.
Jenny Beth Martin (02:47):
And has that pretty much been your full career board of Board of Law Enforcement
Brad Coe (02:51):
For Law Enfor? I've been in law enforcement for 43 years now, and 30 with Border patrol and now seven years here. So yes, the majority of my law experience has been here in Kenny County.
Jenny Beth Martin (03:00):
And you have seen a lot, um, a lot happen when it comes to immigration during that time. Oh yeah. 31 years with Border Patrol. So what do you, what do you see that's happening right now? Kind of describe what you see right now, and then I'd like to go back and talk about the historical context and what you've seen over the course of your career.
Brad Coe (03:20):
Well, what we're seeing right now, it, to me is unprecedented. Of course, we have seen influx throughout the years with my career here, but this, where they've just basically opened it up and said, come on over, we're gonna give you a piece of paper to show up for court in the next 20 years. We've never seen that before. Not here.
Jenny Beth Martin (03:34):
And how many people do you think are, are coming across the border every week and every, every month?
Brad Coe (03:42):
Well, I've got, uh, game cameras set out in, in some of the hotspots of the county. And every night I go through those pictures to see how ex how many are walking through the county, how many have been, were apprehended, how many not. And right now we've had a lot of rain. So the apprehensive people walking through the brushes is a little low, but we're averaged between 130 and 150 a night,
Jenny Beth Martin (04:01):
150 a night.
Brad Coe (04:02):
And that's just Kenny County.
Jenny Beth Martin (04:04):
And those are people who are not going through a port of entry? No. So, uh, and with this open border policy that we are living under right now in our country, outside of the scope of the law, um, why would, why are so many still going out, out of the port of entries? Well,
Brad Coe (04:21):
The ones that are wanting to be get into the system are, they're going through the Port of ENT entry or they're turning themselves into border patrol when they spot 'em. The ones we're seeing are the ones that either A or cartel driven B, excuse me, or, uh, either cartel driven or they've got some type of criminal history, or they just don't wanna be in the system at all.
Jenny Beth Martin (04:41):
Okay. And and do you have a port of entry here in your county?
Brad Coe (04:46):
No, we're one of the few counties that doesn't.
Jenny Beth Martin (04:47):
Alright, because you've got, it's, it's a fairly small amount of your county that's on the border compared to other,
Brad Coe (04:53):
Right. I mean, if you look at the other counties that have port of entry, the actual city itself, except for Del Re, uh, sits right on the border. You know, Eagle Pasture is right on the border, Laredos right on the border. McAllen, Brownsville, all of 'em we're actually from the border, we're 20 miles.
Jenny Beth Martin (05:06):
Okay. Alright. And then, um, explain what you mean when you say that they, they come in and it, it's fairly open right now and they get a paper and show up at court sometime in the next couple of decades.
Brad Coe (05:22):
Well, right now, what we're seeing through, through sources that I've got, the Venezuelans are coming up and just turning themselves in. They're right now I think border patrol's averaging probably about 800 or 600 Venezuelans in a 24 hour period. They're here for political reasons. They're here for sanctions, they're here for asylum. And so they're walking up to the border patrol agents, turning themselves in, being processed and giving a piece of paper promising that they will show up for court sometime within the next two to three years.
Jenny Beth Martin (05:48):
And is that happening with more than just Venezuelans,
Brad Coe (05:50):
Honduras, Guatemalans? Most, most everybody else from what I understand, except for the Mexicans.
Jenny Beth Martin (05:57):
And then what happens when you're a Mexican citizen coming up? Well,
Brad Coe (06:01):
Uh, if we catch 'em or, uh, border Patrol catches 'em, if we catch 'em, we turn 'em over to border patrol. Border patrol takes 'em back to the port of entry.
Jenny Beth Martin (06:08):
And then when they get to the port of entry, they have to get back into Mexico. Back to Mexico, Mexico. So, um, all the people who are coming up, it's it, and going through and being given the, the paper to appear in court, it's everyone but Mexicans, is that correct? Pretty
Brad Coe (06:21):
Much so.
Jenny Beth Martin (06:22):
And why is that? Well,
Brad Coe (06:24):
There, well of course it's been, I've been out out of the, that loop for almost eight years. But there's an agreement with Mexico that their, that their citizens can be repatriated, uh, right there on the spot, catch 'em, process 'em, and turn 'em back. What they call OCMs other than Mexican, your Guatemala's, Hondurans, Chinese, everybody except Mexico. There's an agreement through the State Department how to repatriate those people back through their country. And it's a lengthy process
Jenny Beth Martin (06:51):
And, but they are supposed to be repatriated. They're
Brad Coe (06:53):
Supposed to be,
Jenny Beth Martin (06:54):
But that's not really happening. Yeah. Okay. What have you seen over the course of your, your career? How has the immigration system changed from when you first began and throughout that time?
Brad Coe (07:06):
Well, many years ago, I was a young man, believe it or not,
Jenny Beth Martin (07:11):
I believe it.
Brad Coe (07:11):
One of the guys I worked with, uh, we worked quite, I mean, back then we were a small station. And one of the gen one of the guys I worked with, uh, we worked together a lot. Well, we're now at the river one night and we call a small group, five or six. And there was an older gentleman in the group, he was probably in his fifties. And we're sitting there waiting for something else to happen. They're in the van, we're talking to em, uh, sharing our dinner with them, telling stories back and forth where you're from, on and on. Well, politics comes up and, and John's asking the guy, and, and we're talking this back in the mid eighties. And this has stuck with me ever since. I, I didn't understand it at the time, but it's one of those things that more I thought about it.
(07:49):
He said, if me, if United States sneezes, Mexico catches the flu. In other words, if our economy has just the slightest dip, Mexico suffers. If Mexico suffers, Guatemala suffers even more. So right now, I don't, I wouldn't say the United States has sneezed, but we've got pneumonia. And so that's part of why they come depending on how our economy is, as to what, how their situation is. So with that in mind, over the years, every time we've had a, either a presidential election or midterm elections, there's always been a slight spike in migration from Mexico or other countries into the United States, because there's always that promise of amnesty, or we're gonna give you a shorter pathway to citizenship. It's always on, it's always a rumor, but they're gonna take advantage of it. The smugglers take advantage of it, and we'll get you to the United States for x number of dollars. You're gonna begin giving amnesty. So there's the English version there, we're gonna try. And then there's the back conversion that says we're going to, so it's miscommunication and the smugglers prey on that. So they get these people to come in waves. And since Biden took office, it's been a, it's been a tsunami.
Jenny Beth Martin (08:57):
And what do you mean when you say tsunami? What was it like before he took office versus now? Describe
Brad Coe (09:02):
That. Well, shortly before, shortly before he took office, uh, when I'll, I can use the numbers that we have. Uh, when my guys would go out and work, we would catch, uh, smuggling what we call smuggling load people trying to smuggle people in the United States. We were catching three, four, maybe five a month. We thought we were on top of the world. Shortly, shortly before Biden took office, we saw an increase. The first year he was in office, we saw a huge increase. We caught 169 human smugglers. We thought we had kicked this one out. We knocked this one out completely outta the ballpark. The following year we did 740. Wow. So, ev everything we did as far as immigration goes, tripled the number of aliens we caught, tripled the number of smugglers we caught, tripled the number of guns we seized because of this. Tripled everything across the board, tripled. This year we're looking at a, at probably a 10 to 20% increase of what we did last year. So human smugglers, we're talking, we're gonna do over a thousand this year. So it, but it's all ev every bit of its politics. 'cause if you look across the board, Texas is getting hit the hardest. New Mexico voted Democratic, Arizona went Democrat, California, Democrat Texas was Republican. That's where the push is. And I think it's payback for not being a democratic state.
Jenny Beth Martin (10:23):
And um, how is Texas being hit the hardest compared to the other states?
Brad Coe (10:29):
Well, t Texas, over the years, uh, it was called where they had focus sectors for border patrol. Tucson was the easiest place to, to cross, or they crossed to Tucson lot. They got that shut down. It was to San Diego. They got that shut down. It went to, uh, uh, Brownsville. Laredo had huge influxes. El Pasos had few huge influxes, but never del Re So with the pandemic and everything else going on, and the politics involved, of course, this is my personal belief,
Jenny Beth Martin (10:55):
Right
Brad Coe (10:56):
When they started coming, we declared an, we declared an emergency. The county did. The other counties followed suit behind us. Well, with everything going on and all the political stuff, when El Paso was getting hit the hardest with all the, the, the immigrants, the easiest place to ship 'em money-wise, time-wise would've been to New Mexico. But they weren't. They were shipped. South El Paso sits here. There's another, there's border patrol stations all along, all along the border in New Mexico. Not a single bus went there. They all came south because you overflow you overflow the system in Laredo or McAllen or even Del Rio. The more people you catch, the harder it's to get 'em all processed properly. The harder, the more you have to let go. So nothing went to New Mexico, Arizona, or California. Now, right now Arizona's getting hit pretty hard. Yeah,
Jenny Beth Martin (11:49):
We were just there last week.
Brad Coe (11:50):
But California for some reason is not Same thing with New Mexico. So why? There's too many unanswered questions.
Jenny Beth Martin (11:59):
That is interesting. And then when they, when they come through here, whether they are coming through with smugglers, the cartels, so, um, outside of the ports of entry or even with the ports of entry, you very quickly can get to San Antonio and, and Houston. Right. And get to the rest of the country. So if they're trying to move people outside of Texas to the rest of the country, it might be, especially if they're trying to move them to the eastern side of the country, it's easier. Well, that's go through Texas and to go through. That's why
Brad Coe (12:32):
McAllen and the Rio Grande Valley's always been hit so hard because it, there's three highways that lead out of there. They all go to Houston. If we can get to Houston, we can get anywhere. Same thing with Laredo. Loredo iss the biggest port port of entry in the country. Excuse me. If we can get there, if we can get to Laredo, it's a straight shot to San Antonio. So, like you said, they can assimilate into the country a lot easier going through there. But once those systems get overloaded and they start putting more pressure on down there, where do they come? They come here.
Jenny Beth Martin (13:04):
Wow. And then what kind of problems and issues do you have here in this county because of this?
Brad Coe (13:09):
Well, we, well, we started with back in, in, uh, in late 21, early 22. We declared state of emergency. The commissioner's court signed off on it. We extended it for 30 days and then we extended it for a year. The governor followed suit and 30 or four other counties followed suit with us. So now we started proc 'cause we were seeing a ranch property being torn up, fences being cut, uh, water, trs being damaged, destroyed, uh, bunkhouses being broken into and vandalized all through illegal migration. So we declared an emergency and I vowed that everything we caught we would prosecute for criminal trespass. Well, the governor, declared governor thought it was a good idea. So he declared the emergency and took that penalty from a Class C misdemeanor to a Class B misdemeanor. So now everything we arrest on private property goes to jail for criminal trespass. Everybody was saying, well, you're just wasting time and money. Well, we've seen the difference. It's pushed these, this foot traffic as we call it, south into another county. I hate to put it that way, but my job is to protect my county.
Jenny Beth Martin (14:12):
Well, you only have 35 citizens and eight deputies. So you've got a lot in a massive amount of land that you've gotta protect.
Brad Coe (14:20):
So with the governor's order on Operation Lonestar, after all this, he sent troopers here and they've done a phenomenal job. Uh, we've prosecuted almost 7,000 people for criminal trespass in the past almost two years. Normally the county court, of course, it's all, all goes through county court. We were good for 50, 60 cases a year. And now we've done 7,000 in two years. So it has overloaded our system. Our county has had to hire additional staffing for the, the court, additional staffing for my office. 'cause all the seized vehicle, or I shouldn't say seized vehicles, but all the impounded vehicles, all of the people that we're having to deal with, the prisoners were having to transport back and forth. Uh, the court system just completely overloaded. We were not prepared for it.
Jenny Beth Martin (15:05):
And so what, what have you had to do as a county? Because going from 50 cases a year to 7,000, that's,
Brad Coe (15:12):
Well, we just had to step up our game and, and work longer and harder hours, you know, between, uh, the grace of God, caffeine and, and a strong sense of patriotism. We're gonna get through this.
Jenny Beth Martin (15:22):
And, um, when, when they are arrested and then you, you try them, what happens after that? If they're found guilty?
Brad Coe (15:30):
Uh, usually they end up with time served. 'cause they're usually in jail 30 to 60 days before we ever get it to court. And then once their time is served, they're turned over to ICE or Border patrol.
Jenny Beth Martin (15:39):
Okay. And then after that, what do you think ice and Border Patrol are doing with the people?
Brad Coe (15:43):
It depends on where they're from. If they're Mexican, I'm sure they're going home. If they're from Guatemala, El Salvador, I'm sure they're processing them for something later down the road,
Jenny Beth Martin (15:52):
Moving, moving them through somewhere else in the country. Right. Um, when you, so you mentioned impounded vehicles, um, and guns at one, one point, you've, what are, what are some of the things that you're finding? Like when you find a, a group of people or a a handful of people, what what, what is it typically like?
Brad Coe (16:14):
Well, if it's, if we're talking to the human smuggling mm-hmm.
Jenny Beth Martin (17:17):
It's more than one a day. More
Brad Coe (17:18):
Than one a day. There were times that we had two going on at the same time, two different highways. So they try to flood the system and we're doing everything we can to put that finger in the dyke there to keep it from busting. It's like our, our district attorney. She, she's awesome. She's west. I mean, she, she does, we send her cases. She calls, she tries to prosecute everything. We, we, everything she can, we send her and she says, guys, look, we we're not telling you to slow down that far from it. We just need to make a little better presentation in our casework. Because if we were to stop arresting today, and everybody, we have lined up on the docket for once a jury trial, we're talking eight to 10 years to get 'em cleared. Wow. That's how, that's how far backed up we are.
Jenny Beth Martin (18:04):
And so where are the people during that time? Are they waiting?
Brad Coe (18:07):
Some of 'em are still out on the street. Some of 'em bond out. I've, we've got the governor, it was gracious stuff. He set up two facilities for us that were, uh, old state jails. We're now using as county facilities. One in, uh, the Briscoe unit and the Segovia unit. Uh, we've probably got 500 people in jail right now. Between those two. At one point we probably had close to a thousand, but since our area is slowing down a little bit, well, I should say from what, from two years ago, we're not slowing down at all. But from last year, we're slowed down quite a bit. Uh, since the foot traffic's going to another county further south, our apprehensions for criminal trespass have, have gone way down. So the, the jail's not quite as full.
Jenny Beth Martin (18:48):
And the reason that the, the foot traffic is going to other counties just be, I, I understand why, but let's be specific. Say it out loud. Well,
Brad Coe (18:58):
Because they know that if they're caught in Ken County, they're gonna go to jail and they don't wanna go to jail. They want to get to their destination, start making money, sending it home. If they get caught here, they're gonna go to jail for 30, 60, 90 days.
Jenny Beth Martin (19:10):
And most of the people who you're catching, it's human smugglers. Are you catching people who are smuggling drugs or weapons or
Brad Coe (19:19):
This Kenny County? We've always been a little low on the drug seizures. Okay. Just because of the way, way we liked. I mean, Eagle Pass, Laredo, those are your big drug corridors in this part. Plus El Paso out west. Right. But Kenny County, it's always been, it's always been slow. Okay. It's never been, uh, the mecca for some of the drug smuggling, but human smuggling has always been big.
Jenny Beth Martin (19:39):
And these human smuggle smugglers, what, what does that explain what what you mean by that? Because people might have an image in their mind, but let's clarify what it actually is.
Brad Coe (19:51):
Human smuggling is they will, somebody will come down from Dallas Fort Worth. We're getting people as far as away from Queens, New York, come down here. It's all internet, it's all, uh, uh, Facebook, FaceTime, stuff like that. Based
Jenny Beth Martin (20:04):
Social media. Social media. Right.
Brad Coe (20:06):
So they're coming down here with a promise of big money. So they come to a predetermined location, pick up x number of people, and then they try to slip 'em into the country. They're already on this side of the, of the river. They're just picking 'em up at a stash house or at a motel someplace and trying to get them to San Antonio, Houston, wherever. And they're being promised big money. They're, you know, some of the people we've talked to said, no, I'm supposed to be paid $2,000 a body.
Jenny Beth Martin (20:29):
That's what they said in, um, coachees County. Yeah. To me as well. So 2000.
Brad Coe (20:35):
But here's the question I have of them. It is this, the first time you've done, it's always the first time. This is the first time I've ever done, I've never done anything like this before. Okay. Say they promise, say, I promise you $2,000 a body. You've got 10 bodies. You're looking at $20,000. You show up to the drop off point where I'm supposed to pay you. What are you gonna do if I wanna give you a thousand bucks? Can't call the, you're not gonna call the cops.
Jenny Beth Martin (20:57):
Right.
Brad Coe (20:57):
But now I've got you. Okay. Say, so the first I've said, I do pay you the 20,000. Now I've got you on the hook for good. You're gonna come back, I'm gonna call you again. The pri the payment's gonna get less and less and less. But now I've got you in that cycle where, you know, if you don't do this again next time, next time you do, I'm just gonna dime you out. You get picked up. Then what, who are you gonna report me to? There's nobody. Plus I'm the main facilitator. I call you and say, Hey, I need some bodies moved. You call your buddy and then he calls somebody else. So that, that trail is very vague back to me. So that's how they're getting around. That's how they're doing it. And of course, the cartels are exploiting these people enormously because they're being, they're being promised a trip. Okay, we're gonna get you to Houston, we're gonna get you a job in Houston.
Jenny Beth Martin (21:46):
And when you say these people, um, they're exploiting 'em, they're exploiting the immigrants. The immigrants, yes. Right. Okay.
Brad Coe (21:52):
And, and the people that, that are doing the smuggling. Okay. Uh, so I'm, we're gonna smug you to Houston. It's gonna cost you, you know, $8,000 per person. There's a family of three. Okay? You're looking at $24,000. They don't have that kind of money. So it's on a, we're gonna get you a job and you're gonna pay us back. So basically it's indentured slavery. And nobody wants to look at it like that. No. If that's exactly what it's, and slavery's alive and well,
Jenny Beth Martin (22:20):
And, um, a lot of Americans, not all, but many are either just don't even know it's happening or they're turning a blind eye to it.
Brad Coe (22:29):
I think a lot of it's a blind eye because I talk to people in Dallas Fort Worth, and they, they, we've never heard of that. It's all over the news. It's on every news channel, what's going on? But I've never heard of it. I, I, I don't really see that going on. And I invite him down. Can I take a look? I'll show you. I'll take you wherever you wanna go. And I'll show you the record. I'll put you in a truck with, we had a guy come up from Fox News. He said, man, he goes, I wanna ride with one of your deputies. He goes, the cameraman. So you're gonna record everything. Oh yeah, I'm gonna record everything. Okay, let's do it. Put him in the truck within three hours, they had three different loads and were just boom, boom, boom. And he comes back a week later and says, can I go out again? Dude, I don't know if I can afford to put you out there again. It goes out again. What do they do in the first 30 minutes? They had two. So it's out there. They just have to open their eyes and take a look. And I know a lot of people will see it on Facebook or, or, uh, YouTube or whatever, and they'll go to something else. They don't wanna see it.
Jenny Beth Martin (23:24):
No. Because it's hard to look at this. It
Brad Coe (23:27):
Is. It's, it's hard to look at. But now this is where I'm, I'm not gonna get a soapbox, but I'm gonna give you an example.
Jenny Beth Martin (23:33):
It's okay. We're good with soap boxes here
Brad Coe (23:34):
Of what my deputies go through. That's the way everybody talks about, uh, how many people are you catching? What's going on to the community? What's happening in the county, the state. Let's look at the de deputies aspect.
Jenny Beth Martin (23:43):
Yeah.
Brad Coe (23:45):
I've got a deputy love her to death. She's like one of my children meaner a snake. Holy cow. If she ever got mad at me, I wouldn't even think about shooting her because they'd just make her matter
Jenny Beth Martin (23:54):
Brad Coe (23:54):
But last year we had 17. Normally in Kenny County, we'll come across one or two dead bodies a year. That's just okay. Tradition. We're always gonna have 'em. Last year, you and I stated year before last, we had 17. So huge increase. This particular deputy worked eight of them. She went out into the field, had to identify the body, and it was everything from, they'd been there for a year, year and a half. We just now fighting them to when they got hit by a train 30 minutes ago. She's 26 years old. She shouldn't, I mean, you got cops in Dallas-Fort Worth, big cities that haven't seen that much carnage in her career. And she saw that much in, in a 12 month period.
Jenny Beth Martin (24:37):
And these are, um, this is not like a cop who might come up to a car wreck or I understand in the inner city, you're, you can be dealing with very, um, with violence, right? That, that it is very, very gory. But this isn't just like a, a car wreck where they're immediately injured and you're quickly moving them on to get treatment, hopefully treatment for them. Right? Um, this is, this is these deaths. If they've been out there for a year, there's not much left. And if they've been out there for a week and this heat, they said the heat index here today is gonna be 120.
Brad Coe (25:20):
It's it about this party this time of year. But one of the things is on the human aspect of it, she's gotta deal with this for the rest of her life. Right? It may come up six months from now, it may never come up. It may come up 10 years from who knows. But on the other side of that coin is there's an individual who's passed away out in the brush. He's got family members here in the states or in Mexico or both, that have no idea what happened to him. Right? Where is he? He never showed up. He left back in January. We haven't seen him. And sad to say, I don't have the resources to go out and, and we do get calls from time to time. I don't have the resources to go look
(25:53):
Right. And that, that weighs heavy on everybody involved. I mean, we're not a bunch of animals. No, of course. We're human beings. We try to, we try to help these people as much as we can. I mean, my guys, if they come across, they offer 'em food, they offer 'em water. They put 'em in air conditioning of the truck to get 'em cooled down until they get checked out. One of the roughest ones we had to deal with two years ago was a female deputy. And her partner got a call that there was some ambulances that were in bad shape. They got down there and this guy was severely dehydrated. While they're waiting, they're helping him the best they can. While we're waiting for e m s to show up, to get down there to help, he passed away on them right there in front of 'em. Now you talk to the deputies that say, are you okay? Oh yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine, I'm fine. I've been doing this for 40 something years. Uh, it's never fine. But it's one thing to, to find a body, but it's another to sit there and try to help this person. Uh, I mean, you're, we're not EMTs. We're, we're police officers.
Jenny Beth Martin (26:51):
Right.
Brad Coe (26:51):
Get him in the shade. Try to give him some water, try to take care of him. And until proper medical attention can be done, and he passes his away right there in front of you. It's tough. It's very tough. And, uh, like, and, and the vehicle wrecks. I mean, we've had the pursuits where, end up in a wreck 'cause the driver lost control of the vehicle and somebody gets killed. We kind of expect that, but it's still traumatic on the deputies.
Jenny Beth Martin (27:16):
Right?
Brad Coe (27:16):
So,
Jenny Beth Martin (27:18):
Um, my dad is a Methodist minister. Okay? So when I was growing up, when the phone rang in the middle of the night, we knew someone was dead or dying. Mm-hmm.
(28:14):
And I don't mean that like they're okay with it. I just mean it, it is, it is a little bit different than a, a deputy because it's part of their job. And they, they, they understand that they may save some people and some may not make it. And even these doctors who are fairly hardened to it, because of the reality of their job, I've watched them break down in tears. You know, just being devastated at, at what has, what happened. And they're dealing with, with death and dying in sickness every single day. For, for your deputies, I can imagine just how difficult that is.
Brad Coe (28:49):
And it is tough. But like I tell the deputies, I said, look, we're all Christians here. We know that if everything went well, he's in a better place than he is right now. Right. This what we're looking at, what we're having to pick up and put on there is just the shell. Right? The individual himself is with God and he's up there, he's living the life. But this is just the shell, right? So we're not dealing with the person, we're dealing with the shell. This is just what's left over. And that seems to help 'em a little bit
Jenny Beth Martin (29:16):
More. That that is a, a good way. I am glad that, that you helped them in that manner. Um, and I was with, um, the sheriff, whose name is totally slipping my mind at this moment in Brooks County yesterday. Benny Martinez. Benny Martinez. And, and so they, they have a, a lot more of this than, than what, what you have 60. He said that on average since 2009, they've had 60 deaths right. In the county a year.
Brad Coe (29:50):
It's because where they're being dropped off at in correlation to the, the border patrol checkpoints. So they're dropping off in certain areas and up the humidity, the whole nine yards down there gets them. Right. And of course they have more people walking through the brush, but from in his county, it's a straight shot through, through the checkpoints. And so that's where they're losing the majority of 'em is just before the checkpoint. Just after. Because of the heat.
Jenny Beth Martin (30:13):
Yeah. It, and the heat is just, it is absolutely brutal. Right. It, it is truly brutal. Um, so this is the, the smuggling aspect, the human smuggling aspect. And you don't have many drugs. You did mention that you have, uh, confiscated weapons and guns. What, how many of those and what is that like?
Brad Coe (30:36):
It's hard to count. Uh, last year I think we did 89 guns. Okay. So this year, this year it's slowed down a little bit. We're not seing as many, uh, but we are, we are seeing things like the, the AK 40 sevens, uh, AR platforms, uh, pistols out name the pistol. I've got it in, in the evidence room. Uh, but for some reason the seizure on firearms has dropped a little bit. Okay. Therefore, a while, every, every load we caught the driver had a gun.
Jenny Beth Martin (31:04):
Okay.
Brad Coe (31:04):
And now, for whatever reason, not exactly sure, but it has kind of dropped.
Jenny Beth Martin (31:08):
Is there a different, um, crime that they're charged with? If they're smuggling people with a weapon versus with no
Brad Coe (31:14):
Weapon, it's an additional, additional
Jenny Beth Martin (31:16):
Upfront
Brad Coe (31:16):
Upsetting a little bit.
Jenny Beth Martin (31:17):
Okay. Alright. And then, um, when it's human smuggling that you're encountering here in this county, is it mostly adults or is it children as well? Mostly
Brad Coe (31:27):
Adults. Okay. Very rarely will we have children involved. Uh, you know, maybe two or one or two a month.
Jenny Beth Martin (31:34):
Okay.
Brad Coe (31:35):
But mo it mostly adult males.
Jenny Beth Martin (31:38):
Um, and the adult males who are moving through them when they go into work, they have to pay off the money, which is how they become really indentured servants. Mm-hmm.
Brad Coe (32:04):
One woman we did talk to this last year, actually, we caught her walking through one of the ranches and she kinda gave us a really good deal. She was Guatemala, I believe, to get from Guatemala to the Mexican border was $8,000.
Jenny Beth Martin (32:17):
Okay. And that's where I was going. How much
Brad Coe (32:19):
From the Mexican border to Houston was gonna be another 4,000. But her ultimate goal was Atlanta. Okay. So after, from Houston to Atlanta was gonna be another 3000 just for her.
Jenny Beth Martin (32:30):
That's seven 17.
Brad Coe (32:32):
So she's racked up this huge debt that she's gonna have to pay back, work for the motel or whatever industry they put her in and to pay this back. But at the same time, okay, you owe me, we'll just use $10,000 'cause it's a round number. Right. If I smoke in, you owe me $10,000. Okay? But you're gonna have to live in the apartment complex I tell you to live in or the housing area. Mm-hmm.
Jenny Beth Martin (33:33):
But well, they design it that way. Yeah. And then, um, they, they, I'm sure they're taking the checks or the payments. Oh yeah. And then they get paid after the
Brad Coe (33:44):
Whatever's left over. Yeah.
Jenny Beth Martin (33:45):
Whatever's left.
Brad Coe (33:46):
And you're gonna have to buy food at the local grocery store that we own. So it never ends.
Jenny Beth Martin (33:52):
They probably, from some of what I have heard, talking to other people who are dealing with the, the human smuggling aspect of it, uh, they probably take their paperwork as well, the government paperwork. So they basically hold that hostage so they don't have the proper paperwork to, to move around if they wanted to escape. Right. So
Brad Coe (34:12):
They're, they'll, they'll end up living in the shadows in some, uh, for lack of a better word, slum area. And that's just where they're gonna live the rest of their life. But it's being sold as you're gonna come to the land of milk and honey, you're gonna come to the land of opportunity, which we still are, but you're gonna work for us in our conditions. And I mean, the sweat shops are still in existence and they always will be because nobody wants to look at it. Nobody wants to admit that it still exists. And until we can come to that realization that yes, these people are being sex trafficked. I mean, there's sex trafficking going on with minors, with, with young females. The men are being put into whatever. And until we open up our eyes and are willing to admit that this is going on in our country, it's never gonna end.
Jenny Beth Martin (34:58):
I, I hope that as people are listening to this, if it's the first time that they've heard it, that they pay attention. Attention and understand. I'm talking to a sheriff. I'm not talking to some crazy person on the side of the road,
Brad Coe (35:25):
And, and that's part that's, and of course some of these people that we catch in the smuggling, they're from Oklahoma. We had a couple from, uh, or from Houston or wherever, and their vehicle's impounded until we get through with the case to see if there's any other connection to any other case that we've got open. So they're on foot, they have to wait for somebody to come pick 'em up from Houston, Oklahoma or Dallas, wherever. So I've got a table set up out front of the office where they can sit and wait. It's in the shade they've got plugged where they can plug their phones in and talk to family or whatever. But I can't tell you how many times I've walked by there and said, have you eaten today? Well, I ate dinner last night. Hop in the truck, let's go. And I'll take 'em up to the local restaurant and say, Hey, give the, give the waitress out.
(36:04):
Of course I know everybody. Look, here's 20 bucks. Give 'em whatever they want. If it's not enough, I'll pay you when I come back. If it's more than enough, keep the rest of our tip. 'cause you're helping us out here. I'll drop 'em off at the restaurant, let 'em sit up there for an hour or two, eat, sit in the cool, drink some tea, then I'll go pick 'em up and bring 'em back. And I've had men that I've done this for. When I take 'em back to the office, they're crying. Right. Well, we thought you were just gonna beat us. No, we're not a beast. We're we're humans. You did something wrong. I'm not gonna hold it against you as a human being. I can't. But yes, you broke the law, you crossed that line. But I'm not gonna sit let you sit here and starve. I'm not gonna let you go without water. I've put people up in motel rooms because, well, my, my mother can't come pick us up for another two days. You can, I've bought bus tickets to get 'em home. I've bought food, clothes, diapers, whatever. But it's just part of what we did.
Jenny Beth Martin (37:00):
And are you paying for the side of your pocket? Or is the budget coming out of the county? County
Brad Coe (37:03):
Gotta come county out? My budget, that's for sure.
Jenny Beth Martin (37:05):
Okay. Um, you, you are showing them the milk and honey that America, the promise of America, the greatness of America by doing that kind of thing. I, I have heard people say, well, if the government doesn't take care of all these people, who's going to, and we're, we're the most compassionate, generous nation on earth.
Brad Coe (37:26):
We're we truly are. If now this is, of course, this is one of my theories. Worked with the border patrol for 30 years. Saw how the system works. It can be simplified, it can be it, but it takes Congress to do. It has to change the law. It has to change the regulations on how to enter properly. How, um, I mean, my mother-in-law, my father-in-law immigrated legally, but it took 'em a while because my mother-in-law is one of eight. And my father-in-law was one of seven or eight. So as they had the money, they came across legally and not until then. So for for families, it probably needs to be simplified a little bit. Reduce the fees, get the lawyers outta the situation, get it to where they can understand the process, get it taken care of and come over legally. I mean, half the half of this county's got ties to Mexico for family member.
(38:16):
My mother-in-law still goes over there 'cause she's got family down in San Carlos. So they go quite a bit. So the relationship is there. It's just how do we get it through Congress to maybe increase the number of visas, cut down on the waiting list and let these people come over. Uh, if they're people and they're, they're not criminals, they haven't done anything wrong by God, let 'em in. I mean, who knows? There's probably, there may be some guy standing on the other side of the river right now that got the cure for cancer, just waiting to get over here. What are his qualifications? Let's get him in here. Let's get him in here, let's get him assimilated and see what they can do and anything. And I don't care what it is, if they're being active, being a productive member of society, whether they have their own little, uh, food, food wagon, food truck, or they get over here and do things. Right. And they become the c e o of a, of a major company that they started. Either way we can benefit from the immigrants coming over. It's just, let's quit being greedy. Let's simplify the situation and go from there.
Jenny Beth Martin (39:23):
Okay. Would well, I would imagine that Biden and my mayor Orca and people within the administration might argue, well, we have simplified the system. What do you think of that? They,
Brad Coe (39:35):
They haven't simplified the system. It's, they've overloaded the system. If we bring enough people over here, we get the courts backed up, then these people will never have to go for their hearing. They'll just be here forever. We can put 'em in the agriculture area. We can put 'em in manufacturing and not have to pay them a decent wage or a livable wage because we're paying them under the table. When I, when I went to dc I went to DC back in 2006. I was, we've been there for six months. Well, weekends, Washington's Washington. So I, because I was detailed up there, didn't really know the whole lay of the land. I went out and looked at things, but just too congested. Sometimes I'd go in and work on Saturday. Well, I decided to take a Saturday off. I'm out roaming the streets of Washington DC and go out to one of the battlefields and there's a couple of guys there.
(40:22):
Done get you talking to 'em. And they from, from El Salvador and told 'em who I was. I said, no, no, no guys, I'm not, I'm not gonna arrest you. Just have some questions. What are you doing here? They were working in the construction industry. They were drywallers, put up the sheet rock. I said, how much they paying you up here? Well, since we don't have documents, they're paying both of us. Uh, 30 bucks an hour. Decent wage for down here. But Washington, a single guy was making 65 bucks an hour. So here's these two guys. Of course they're living together. They're brothers. They're living in the same apartment. They're paying, you know, sharing the, splitting everything equally. But the contractor was saving money 'cause he was paying them in cash under the table and not having to report it.
Jenny Beth Martin (41:11):
And that's wrong in so many levels. It's wrong to those brothers who aren't being paid the same amount as everyone else. It is wrong to, um, Americans who might wanna have such a job because Americans aren't, they're going to expect mm-hmm.
Brad Coe (42:11):
But at the same time, if I hire two guys for 30 bucks an hour versus one guy for 60 bucks an hour, I get twice as much done in theory. Mm-hmm.
Jenny Beth Martin (43:19):
Yeah. And, and if you're saving yourself money, but you're doing it in an illegal manner, it, it's just so wrong to all the people who are following the
Brad Coe (43:26):
Law. And there's some places that where they've hired these, hired these people that are not here legally at the on payday. They have to give a little kickback to the supervisor. Yeah.
Jenny Beth Martin (43:39):
Wow. Um, you mentioned, uh, you said that, um, we could fix it, that Washington could, could fix the problem. And one of the things you said is to increase the number of visas and make sure people assimilate. Why do you think assimilation is so important?
Brad Coe (43:58):
Well, it, but you know, of course the one thing, it's human nature. I mean, you go, we go all the way back to say, you know, the early nine, early 20th century, you know, uh, Ellis Island, 19 0 1, 19 0 2, when everybody was coming across, they're all coming through New York, some of 'em coming through Galveston. But you're say in your, in your group, there's a hundred Irishmen. Where are you gonna feel more comfortable living in some other neighborhood or living with a bunch of, of Irish or Italian or Mexican or whatever. You're gonna, you're gonna go to the where you feel comfortable, but at the same time, which is fine, but at the same time, you kinda need to assimilate it into the, the rules and regulations and customs of America. Yes. We are a melting pot. I mean, they say you can't find happiness. I tell you, I can find happiness in a Mexican restaurant.
(44:48):
I love Mexican food.
(45:32):
You know, just, it's just that simple. But we're all human beings. There is no reason to divide the country based on politics, based on race, based on religion or anything. I grew up in Del Rio. I'm not gonna say it was a sheltered life, but you've been to Del re 30,000 people. Everybody knew everybody. Which when, when me and my buddies were going to school, it didn't matter which group we were with. Sometimes we were with the rednecks, sometimes we were with the metal heads. Sometimes we were with the black kids over here. We didn't care. We all, we all grew up together. We all went to the same school. When I graduated high school, there was 400 of us. So you couldn't help but interact. My first, I would, well I I, I experienced a little bit of racism when I was in college, but was in the Air Force.
(46:21):
There were, we had two guys. One was from Philadelphia, one was from Boston. Both Irish. Yeah. Irish from Philadelphia was a little strange, but they were Irish. Oh, were Irish. They hung out together for about three weeks, four weeks until they found out one of 'em was Catholic. The other one was protest. They quit talking. They said, what do you, I, I didn't understand it. And the guy said, well, my grand, my, it was his uncle or somebody was excommunicated from the church. 'cause he married a Protestant. Really? We've come, we haven't come that far. Yeah. You know, in 250 years. Why? I mean, I can walk into any church in this, in this community here and feel welcome. I can walk into any household in, in this and feel welcome. People I've arrested, I've seen in the grocery store, they come over and shake my hand. That can happen anywhere. It should happen everywhere. But it doesn't so assimilate everybody needs to kind of get along. I don't care. I mean, if you're from China, if you're Poland or whatever, if you're a productive member of the society and productive member of the community, there's no reason we can't sit down and have lunch together.
Jenny Beth Martin (47:29):
And there are a lot of people in this country, uh, the mainstream media, both sides of the political aisle. They find reasons to divide and, and it, it benefits them to divide. And I certainly can get on a soapbox and rant about an issue or a policy. And believe me, I get really angry with, with Joe Biden, but I always urge people when we're talking about our political opposition, I do my very, very best to say, let's remember, they're Americans are enemies or the enemies of the country. Mm-hmm.
Brad Coe (48:22):
I'm, I'm convinced that the mainstream media is parted 90% of the cause. Yes. Because people I talk to, I mean, some of these smugglers we catch, they're from Oklahoma, they're from all over the country. And they're, they're Hispanic, they're white, they're black. You name it, we've had it.
Jenny Beth Martin (48:38):
Well, $2,000 a person for a carload. That's a Yeah.
Brad Coe (48:42):
Yeah. And when I go back there and talk to 'em, and I do, I get some strange looks from, from, from the smuggler. You're actually talking to me. Why wouldn't I? Well, well, um, I'm, I didn't expect to be treated like this. 'cause I'm black. Why am I gonna treat you any different than I'm gonna treating anybody else? Right. That part, I, I still, I still can't comprehend. Well, hopefully I'll take that to my grave. But they're people and they just, Hey, I'll respect you. You respect me. Yes. You just committed a crime. You're just, you know, trying to smoke some people in here. But that mean I can't come back here and talk to you. Where are you from? Does your family know you're here? On and on and on. I, I, as a person, as a Christian, as a human being, have to make sure that they're safe and secure in my jail.
(49:26):
So I have to ask 'em these questions. I have to go back there and visit with them. Are you okay? Because sometimes you can see it in their eyes. They're scared to death. We're not here, we're not gonna beat you. I promise we're not gonna take you out back and, and, and flog you and, and, you know, waterboard you or nothing. Make sure you're comfortable. Are you hungry? Do you have food? Do you have water? We're gonna take care of you. Yes, you committed a crime, but you're still a human being. And I think the mainstream media tries to separate us on some of the issues that they, that they wanna put on the news that they just wanna stay with. And I think that's where their big divide is.
Jenny Beth Martin (50:01):
Okay. Let me go back to something you said in the, the beginning just to make sure that we have clarity on, on that. Um, several minutes ago you mentioned something about how people had come up and you said they fled the, the system. And I think you were talking about the cartels. Mm-hmm.
Brad Coe (50:21):
Well, the, the, the cartels, they're in control of Mexico. We know it, we don't want to admit it, but yes, they control both sides of the border. There's not a cartel faction that doesn't have somebody in the major cities throughout the United States. Uh, so they promise these people big, big prizes, push 'em across, push 'em off. And we've seen an eagle pass, you know, groups two, 300 show up at a time that completely overwhelms the system. They've gotta take every bus, every person they have on duty to handle that group. So what are they pushing through behind it on the other side where there's nobody at the fentanyl, the cocaine, the heroin, the meth, all of it. So it's a two-headed spear. Or you know, you've got a man's on one side, plus they're pushing everything else on the other. So yes, it, and they've got it worked out perfectly. It's just the people here don't wanna see that. Right. We've got, we've got a huge fentanyl crisis going on in the, in, in our cities, but we don't wanna look at that because, well, that's not popular.
Jenny Beth Martin (51:23):
And yet if you have a family member or friend who is affected by that crisis, you, you understand how bad, how bad it is. It's easy, I suppose, for some people to just put blinders on and not pay attention to it if it's not affecting them. Well,
Brad Coe (51:37):
When you've got your, and I, I use Nancy Pelosi as an example. She lives in this huge house gated community. She's got security everywhere. Right. She's never had to call the police to come safer. She's never had to deal with somebody on the street panhandling or, or, uh, uh, not say abusing, but approaching her and pestering her until she gives up some money so they can go get something to eat, drink, whatever. She's never had to live that life. And until these people realize that that is what's going on in the mainstream, in the real world, none of these policies are gonna change. And I'm convinced that if the Republicans came up with a plan and said, we're gonna give every illegal alien a million dollars cash as soon as they walk, here's a million dollars cash, the Democrats would fight. Yes. 'cause it's not their idea. We have to do what's best for the country, not for the party.
Jenny Beth Martin (52:26):
I, I think that you're right about that. I, I, as I've dealt with the issue of illegal immigration over the last, it, it's been nearly, well, it has been a decade now. We first took it up in 2013, fighting the gang of eight Bill. Um, I, I, I think that by and large, the politicians in Washington, DC like the immigration, whether they're dealing with illegal immigration or calling it migrants, whatever it is, it's their football, it's their political football, and they like to pass it back and forth and tackle each other. Mm-hmm.
Brad Coe (53:10):
But they don't realize that if they solve the problem, just that individual use Fentanyl, for example, they solve that problem, just fentanyl, there's so many other problems that go away.
Jenny Beth Martin (53:21):
Right.
Brad Coe (53:22):
They just solve that one little problem and it's done. But they're not going to, because I'm not gonna go off on the, on the far right conspiracy stuff right now, but, uh, I mean, if they pick that one problem and solve the fentanyl problem, three others go away. Yeah. You know, the, the, the rapes, the murders, the, the theft, everything associated with drugs goes away. Will there always be drugs? Yes, there will. We'd legalize marijuana. We're always gonna have marijuana being smoked again because it's cheaper. Just because you legalize it doesn't make it go away.
Jenny Beth Martin (53:55):
Um, in your county, things are different. If, if, um, other counties and if the entire country followed the law, do you think the problems would be different? Yes.
Brad Coe (54:10):
Uh, as far as the immigration problem, back in two, I can't even remember what year it was. Anyway, they had, they started, uh, operation Streamline, and we started an Eagle Pass. One particular area was getting hit the hardest with legal immigration. So anybody that was apprehended, that had crossed in that area was prosecuted for eight U S C 1325, which is illegal entry into the United States. Once we got that zone under, under control, we went to the next two, got that under control. Next thing you know, all along the Del Rio sector, everything that being apprehended is prosecuted and spending anywhere from 30 to 180 days in jail. Our apprehensions went from here to here. I mean, they, they dropped through the floor
Jenny Beth Martin (54:53):
And the word got out.
Brad Coe (54:55):
Word got out, don't come, don't try to enter through here. So they go through Laredo, they go through Brownsville. Well, they started prosecuting down there. Well, it all went to Arizona where the courts were a little different and they wouldn't take the prosecution. But for the longest time, Rio Sector, I mean, we had the fewest apprehensions in the securest area along the border. So enforcing the law. Yes, it works.
Jenny Beth Martin (55:18):
So what do you think the master key to board of security is?
Brad Coe (55:21):
You have to have the, the, the penalties to go with the, with the crime. You can't just enter the United States and get a free pass. You can't, without some type of consequence, the laws are useless. So enforcing the law, we try to enforce everything we can here in Kenny County. And sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes we have to arrest people that we don't really want to arrest. But because we have to, we do. And the laws are there for a reason.
Jenny Beth Martin (55:46):
And if you don't like the law, enforce the law and work through the legislative process to change the law, bingo.
Brad Coe (55:52):
That's how they're all changed.
Jenny Beth Martin (55:53):
And if you change the law without enforcing it, no one's gonna believe that the new law matters
Brad Coe (55:57):
As long as law is changed and enforced in a constitutional manner. Right. So as long as we follow the Constitution and the laws are just, we don't have a problem,
Jenny Beth Martin (56:06):
Which is not going through executive orders to ignore the current law in the books. So. Well, um, I really appreciate your time today, sheriff Ka. Well, thank you. I appreciate it. Um, and I, I'm really glad to know that, that you're seeing, I know it's up further than it had been, what's happening in your county as it it relates to illegal immigration. But I'm glad that as you have, have, uh, sent a message that if you're doing that here in this county, we're going to arrest you. That it, it's decreased a bit.
Brad Coe (56:38):
And what has really helped, I mean, yes, we did it with six deputies in the beginning and eight part-time. Well, the governor sent a bunch of troopers down here, and the troopers have helped. Well, Galveston County has helped by sending, they sent three to four deputies every two weeks. Wow. On rotation. They've been here for, for going on two years. Uh, goldhead County was the first one to back us up on the, on the signing of the emergency status. Um, now we have Bayou Vesta here from, they're from Galveston. Their officers are here, police officers are here, help helping us. Um, looks like Liberty County's gonna be coming to Ken County here shortly. And I've had people reach out from Oklahoma. Wow. Sheriff Sheriff's up there wanting to come help, because what affects us here today affects them tomorrow. Tomorrow. And we're getting a ton of support. And the locals love it because they know that A, we're freed up a little more and we can cover more areas. Plus the number of, of DWIs that we've seen has dropped because we got troopers everywhere and it's making a huge difference. But how long can we sustain it?
Jenny Beth Martin (57:41):
I'm not sure how long you can sustain it, but I'm very grateful that you're doing it and that so many others are stepping up to help out and that you've got an amazing DA who's willing to prosecute. Oh, she's, she's
Brad Coe (57:51):
Awesome. And our county attorney, he's pretty good too. You gotta give him credit. I coached him in T-Ball
Jenny Beth Martin (57:56):
Brad Coe (57:59):
The thing about Kenny County is we're all related together. Somehow our county judge, me and him served on the school board together. Me and his wife, uh, served on the stock board together for Kenny County, for the, for four H kids. Our county judge was the ag teacher when our county attorney was in school. And the county attorney got a little outta line and the county judge just kind of popped him a time or two. Uh, I taught him in t-ball and, and, uh, little league. So we're all related. Somehow I've, no, I've seen these kids grow up. I coached their, either their parents or grandparents.
Jenny Beth Martin (58:31):
Well, it's your home and home. You wanna make sure that your home is safe. And people who live in Columbus, Ohio, or Cincinnati or Chicago or anywhere else, they wanna know that their home and their backyard is safe. And you're doing that for your citizens and trying to help the rest of the country.
Brad Coe (58:48):
And for the most part, we are still Mayberry. I still hang out at the school, read to the kids, hang out with the kids, uh, do things with the kids, for the kids. That's the only resource we have. So we have to take care of the kids.
Jenny Beth Martin (59:00):
Well, you've got a great county. Thank you. I enjoyed driving through it. I've enjoyed meeting you. And maybe sometime I'll come back and do a drive along with you.
Brad Coe (59:07):
You're more than welcome. We'll put you in with one of your camera guys and, uh, see what actually goes on.
Jenny Beth Martin (59:12):
Well, we would very much enjoy that. Thank you so much for your time today, and thank you for everything you're doing for your county and for the country. Well, thank you,
Brad Coe (59:19):
Ma'am. And I appreciate everything are doing, bringing light to this, to the people who aren't paying attention. So thank you so much.
Narrator (59:26):
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 Patriot. For more information, visit tea party patriots.org.
Jenny Beth Martin (59:47):
If you enjoyed this episode and wanna stop Freedom Thieves from turning our country into a communist nightmare, be sure to subscribe to the podcast.