A lot of you have asked it we are safe living here on the border? We live only a mile from the Rio Grande River and the border with Mexico. Reynosa in the State of Tamaulipas is just across the river from us and is now considered to be one of the most dangerous cities in Mexico, due to two major drug cartels battling it out for control of the smuggling business. Not only do they smuggle drugs but also deal in human cargo, leading many people of other nationalities (over 64 different ones according to the BP) over the border in return for money.
Yet we feel very safe living here. We would not cross the border anywhere but into the town of Nuevo Progreso about 40 miles downriver from us. It is very safe with a large military presence. The locals make it safe by keeping out the bad guys as much as they can. They want to protect their lucrative tourist trade with Winter Texans, who come over to fill prescriptions and get inexpensive dental, optical and plastic surgery work done. Could some of these businesses be a part of the drug cartel? Quite possibly.
We see the Border Patrol many times every day driving the levee just across the road from the RV Park. We also see or hear their helicopters at all hours, almost every day, patrolling the area. A few times they have been hovering just over the levee from us. Since the area between us and the border is all part of the State Park and National Wild Life Refuge it is highly wooded and a favorite place to cross the river. One day while birding I saw them walking a young man out of the brush and they were taking packages out of this backpack and putting them into evidence bags. It is not uncommon to see dark colored clothes that have been discarded once someone has crossed the border. The levee was built many years ago to protect the valley when the Rio Grande floods. The levee is not exactly on the border and in many places is over a mile away like it is across from our RV Park. The levee is where the border wall is slated to be built and in many places the wall has been there for years. I bird areas along the wall and levee where the Border Patrol allows it. I was asked once to leave the area as there was suspicious activity up ahead.
The Border patrol also has boats on the river, radar blimps in the sky and many other portable detection sites along the border. We hear on the local news all the time about another big drug or human cargo bust. Just two weeks ago they found over 130 Central and South Americans, some of them children by themselves, in a semi-truck in the line to cross through American customs.
The Border Patrol asks us to keep their number in our phones and call them if we see anything suspicious. We have never had to call them. We are glad to have the Border patrol as our neighbors.
Yet we feel very safe living here. We would not cross the border anywhere but into the town of Nuevo Progreso about 40 miles downriver from us. It is very safe with a large military presence. The locals make it safe by keeping out the bad guys as much as they can. They want to protect their lucrative tourist trade with Winter Texans, who come over to fill prescriptions and get inexpensive dental, optical and plastic surgery work done. Could some of these businesses be a part of the drug cartel? Quite possibly.
We see the Border Patrol many times every day driving the levee just across the road from the RV Park. We also see or hear their helicopters at all hours, almost every day, patrolling the area. A few times they have been hovering just over the levee from us. Since the area between us and the border is all part of the State Park and National Wild Life Refuge it is highly wooded and a favorite place to cross the river. One day while birding I saw them walking a young man out of the brush and they were taking packages out of this backpack and putting them into evidence bags. It is not uncommon to see dark colored clothes that have been discarded once someone has crossed the border. The levee was built many years ago to protect the valley when the Rio Grande floods. The levee is not exactly on the border and in many places is over a mile away like it is across from our RV Park. The levee is where the border wall is slated to be built and in many places the wall has been there for years. I bird areas along the wall and levee where the Border Patrol allows it. I was asked once to leave the area as there was suspicious activity up ahead.
The Border patrol also has boats on the river, radar blimps in the sky and many other portable detection sites along the border. We hear on the local news all the time about another big drug or human cargo bust. Just two weeks ago they found over 130 Central and South Americans, some of them children by themselves, in a semi-truck in the line to cross through American customs.
The Border Patrol asks us to keep their number in our phones and call them if we see anything suspicious. We have never had to call them. We are glad to have the Border patrol as our neighbors.
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