Texas ranchers use ladders to aid illegal immigrants
Tired of costly repairs for torn fences, some Texas ranchers are positioning ladders along their property line fences in an attempt to entice immigrants to climb over fences.
Some immigrants walk for hours or days to skirt the checkpoints in temperatures hovering around 100 degrees. Their feet have worn visible paths through a forest of cactus and mesquite otherwise thick enough to conceal them from Border Patrol helicopters overhead and agents only a few hundred yards away.
The paths lead from one ripped-down section of fencing to another. Texas ranches can be so large it could be days before owners notice the hole in the fence, long after the livestock possibly escapes.
Paul Johnson protects his 2,700-acre exotic game ranch of zebras, scimitar-horned oryx and wildebeests with about 10 miles of high wire fence, and joined his neighbors in placing ladders along the way.
Unfortunately, there are ranchers who are less supportive of the idea of ladders or torn fences and instead opt for 220 volt “live” fences. What a reassuring kick in the pants that must be.
