BRACKETTVILLE, Texas—For months, Texas ranchers have dealt with a relentless stream of illegal aliens traversing their property, cutting fences, breaking into their homes, and threatening them. Their patience is wearing thin.
Rural Kinney County, where Brackettville sits, has become a major thoroughfare for illegal immigrants trying to avoid law enforcement. The county shares just 16 miles of international border with Mexico, but sits between Del Rio and Eagle Pass—two major illegal border-crossing areas in Texas.
The Kinney sheriff’s stable of six full-time deputies has been beefed up by constables and deputies from Galveston, but with 1,360 square miles to cover, it’s an insurmountable ratio. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has had an impact, catching smugglers on the roads and illegal aliens on ranches, but still, they’re outnumbered.
Meanwhile, Sam Hall, the founder and president of militia group Patriots for America, has spent the past week in Kinney County.
“What we’ve seen is an invasion of this county,” Hall said during a county commissioner’s meeting on Oct. 18. “What we’ve seen is residents that are scared to death right now, and they don’t feel like they have support from the state.”
Hall told The Epoch Times that he’ll have around 40 men in the county by the end of the week and a total of 100 by around Oct. 26, with more coming. The militia’s arrival is happening against the backdrop of reports that 60,000 to 85,000 mostly Haitian migrants are on their way toward the U.S. border.
“We need the right men. And as many men are wanting to come down here, we don’t need just a warm body—we need very high IQ, situational-awareness kind of men,” he said.
He said the militia will operate as a deterrent in areas of high traffic.
“As a militia, we can’t detain or arrest people. We can disrupt and frustrate until the county or DPS can get there,” Hall said. He said the militia is self-funded, but members are having to take time off work to join. He anticipates that members from Texas, Georgia, and Louisiana will travel to Kinney County.
“We’re not here to hurt anybody. We’re not here to beat our chests, start a fight—nothing like that. We’re here to keep people safe,” Hall said.
“We’re not leaving as a militia until we know that this county is safe.”
