No regard for roads or ranch turf Border Patrol agents have repeatedly rutted the roads and the pastures of the Walker ranches by driving through deep mud in 4-wheel drive. "Donuts" carved into pastures and bad ruts evidence the presence of this federal agency on private property.

By Marìa Eugenia Guerra

One of the parts of my job that I most like is inviting dialogue over an issue that is relevant to those of us who make our homes in South Texas. Sometimes the dialogue is scornful and scathing, like that of the hot-headed Border Patrol agent who vehemently took issue with my point of view and vented his spleen in the last issue of LareDOS.

Sometimes, however, the dialogue is meaningful, intelligent, and driven by a sense of what is balanced and right. Such was the dialogue with rancher Gene Walker, a much-regarded gentleman of this community.

He wrote an articulate assessment of some of his encounters with agents of the United States Border Patrol on his ranches in Webb and Zapata counties. He also offered solutions to the increasing problem area ranchers are having with Border Patrol agents on their property. What follows is the text of Mr. Walker's assessment:

I wish to harshly criticize the extremely unethical behavior of some of the federal government's Border Patrol employees. The actions of a few have in my opinion marred the image of the agency.

There is the matter of their rudeness while they are on private land on taxpayer's time. They are intrusive and impolite and some have an attitude of "I'm better than you are." This evidences itself in their official comportment and what they do on private land while on official duty.

They take things that do not belong to them and they do so on government time. They hunt and pick up arrowheads, cow skulls, buck deer shed antlers, buck deer skulls and antlers -- all on private property and on government time. This kind of artifact hunting and collecting is taken to extremes -- many taxpayer dollars are wasted. Some agents hunt these objects from helicopters!

For the most part, Border Patrol pilots do not take any precautions whatsoever around cattle. They fly too low, disregard us ranchers, and stampede our frightened cattle over fences and into neighboring ranches.

Unidentified, unmarked vehicles out in our pastures should never be allowed. Using government vehicles to play on our land causes excessive wear to the vehicle, not to mention the damage it does to the land. Please see the attached photographs of permanent ruts made in our roads by agents using four-wheel drive in the mud and by agents cutting "donuts" on our pastures with their vehicles. We know better than to rut our roads in wet weather and we take great care not to.

There are agents afoot and in the middle of nowhere on our ranch. They are elusive, hiding, and refusing to identify themselves or what they are doing in such an unlikely place to be tracking the movement of illegal immigrants.
The harassment of our deer hunters is unacceptable. Either this must stop or the government must reimburse ranchers for income loss. It is totally unacceptable for a Border Patrol agent to pop up anywhere in prime hunting time, intimidate the hunters, and scare off the game. This goes on and more so during the main deer season, giving rise to the question, "Why so much interest by agents in the intense surveillance of our land during deer season?" Perhaps they are themselves hunting or spotting a good deer.

I include fence cutting by Border Patrol agents on their long list of unpardonable acts on private property. In most instances, the cutting of a ranch fence is considered a felony act.

These attitudes and actions will sooner or later lead to a confrontation between U.S. Border Patrol agents and ranchers, landowners, and hunters.

I would not offer these criticisms without also offering some suggestions to remedy a situation that has such potential for more negatives for all parties.

Go back 15 or 20 years to the standards that were required to be a Border Patrol Agent. Moral standards and common courtesy should be integral to the comportment of every agent.

Leave deer hunters alone. Border Patrol agents could do their surveillance from 10 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m., during the hours in which the hunters have returned to camp and are not in the pastures.

Under no circumstances allow vehicles during wet weather to cut up our turf grass.

Leave arrowheads and artifacts on the ground. This is theft of antiquities.

Border Patrol agents should have the common courtesy to say hello and tell the rancher what their business is on the rancher's private property. This is still the United States of America.

Have helicopters fly higher and away from cattle so they do not bolt and take out fences, which were expensive to build in the first place and expensive to replace.

The loss of hunting revenues due to Border Patrol's actions should allow us to be compensated accordingly.

Cutting fences to get through to another pasture should never be allowed. Agents should be taught in training that this is an unpardonable action, one that in other circumstances would be considered a felony act.

Border Patrol agents should also be taught to leave ranch and pasture gates as they found them -- open or closed. Their failure to do so has some of the most serious effects on our operations when we are moving cattle over a couple of weeks from a series of pastures to get them to the pens for market. Weeks worth of work is un-done by gates left open.

They should also be taught how to close padlocks to keep from locking out the landowner from his or her own property, or themselves from the property they have just visited.

I'd like to note that all things said here are not hearsay. They have happened to me personally.