photo #5878443

Worth reading A personal experience in the Valley of Death: He was in the shade of the mesquite motte but not well hidden at all, just lying stretched out on his belly. First, we thought he was asleep. Then, we realized he was laying nose-down in the dirt. We got off our hunting rig and took some water over to check on him. Too late. We called the Brooks County Sheriff. They brought out the US Border Patrol, a Justice of the Peace, and the coroner. Did you know the USBP runs a a "Missing Migrant" program for families to check on loved ones who crossed the border and were never heard from again? This young man had an ID. And a cell-phone, some bank cards and a New Mexico phone number. So presumably his family will be notified of his passing. Not sure what happened, but we can guess from the clues. He was young with an athletic build and in apparently good shape. He'd taken off his shoes, one of them tossed several feet from where he laid. His cell phone and ID were also laying on the ground next to his body. His pants were down around his ankles. From his under-clothing, it was apparent he was having lower intestinal issues, probably due to the fact he had no water with him and had resorted to drinking from the cattle troughs on the ranches. Then he probably got weak and couldn't keep up. The cartel coyotes will not stop or slow down. If you fall behind, you're on your own. And if you fall over dead, they'll strip your pockets of money, food, and water. The human smuggling business is brutally Darwinian. The coroner estimated he'd only been gone a few hours when we found him. I've said this many times and take this opportunity to say it again - allowing illegal immigration to occur is not compassionate. It creates a culture of organized crime that exploits and dehumanizes. But our vanity prevents us from seeing the harm we are causing. Like the unfenced swimming pool that entices into danger children who cannot swim, our open border has made America an attractive nuisance that entices people to make bad decisions, to entrust their lives and last dollars into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. We are so proud that people want to come here so badly that we refuse to see the river of inhumanity running thru our neighborhoods. We actually feel good about it. We make up excuses for not enforcing law, thinking somehow it achieves a nobler purpose. It didn't work out that way for Daniel. Our lack of resolve at enforcing law got him killed. In fact, we prefer to demonize the people who want to stop illegal immigration, rather than the drug cartels who are making hundreds of millions of dollars a year in the flesh trade - human smuggling. The "Shining City On The Hill," we call ourselves. Yet, we not only tolerate this, we extol it as virtue. What has happened to us?