Texas ranchers claim they have found bodies of illegal immigrants on their property for YEARS, as border crisis escalates amid claims of 'starved and sexually abused' children
Tensions in Texas are growing as one rancher claims he and a neighbor have found numerous bodies of illegal immigrants on their properties for at least a decade.
Whit Jones, who lives about 50 miles north of the border at Rio Grande, says he has found 2-3 bodies annually in recent years.
An unnamed neighbor of Jones claims he has found an average of 10 bodies a year for the past 10 years.
The allegations come as border crossings have hit their highest level in 15 years amid widespread criticism of crowded holding facilities which some are now saying are rife with abuse. Texas's governor has claimed that children face food shortages and are being targeted for sexual abuse.
Jones says that due to the recent accommodations near the border, the people migrating to his property north of the border have been mostly adult males, as opposed to women and children, resulting in 'a little bit more of a dangerous situation.'
Whit Jones, a Texas rancher, told 'Fox & Friends' about the disturbing discoveries he and a neighbor have made
Senator Marsha Blackburn reported she'd spoken to a local Texas rancher who has found over a dozen dead illegal immigrant bodies on his ranch
Texas Senator Marsha Blackburn reported similar claims from another local rancher in Cochise County.
She tweeted that John Ladd told her 'in the past 30 years he's had over a dozen dead illegal immigrants on his ranch.'
'He's had his trucks, barns and buildings broken into countless times and every day multiple groups of illegals cross his land.
Ladd, a rancher in Cochise County, told Sen. Blackburn 'he shouldn't have to live like this in America.'
These latest reports from Texas ranchers come just over one week after surveillance video captured two Ecuadorean girls who were abruptly dumped over a steel barrier at the Mexico-United States border.
The two little girls, aged three and five, were abandoned by smugglers on March 30 in New Mexico.
Footage release by U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows a human smuggler (top) climbing over the Mexico-United States border wall in New Mexico after dropping two sisters from Ecuador, aged 3 and 5, over the steel barrier last Tuesday
A migrant boy, who was abandoned in southern Texas after crossing over from Mexico, was recorded on video in tears and asking a U.S. Border Patrol agent for help last Thursday
Their parents, Yolanda Macas Tene and Diego Vacacela Aguilar, live in New York.
Consulate officials were able to find the girls, and discovered their parents had left their Ecuadorean home not long before, according to relatives, and were awaiting their daughters in New York City.
Two days later, a 10-year-old Nicaraguan boy was found wandering alone near the border, sobbing uncontrollably.
When found, he explained that the group of migrants he had been traveling with had abandoned him while he slept.
US Customs and Border Protection said they 'transported the child to a Border Patrol facility where he was fed and medically screened.'
March saw the most migrant children crossing the border in history, with 18,890 unaccompanied minors being taken into cramped shelters.
Now reports have surfaced of child sex abuse and neglect at Freeman Expo Center, which is housing 1,370 underage migrants.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott made the declaration at a press conference Wednesday evening, following tips to authorities about the alleged abuse occurring inside the Freeman Expo Center.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says Joe Biden should shoulder blame amid allegations of child abuse and neglect at an overcrowded San Antonio migrant facility
President Joe Biden, seen on Thursday at the White House, has tried to characterize the uptick in border crossings as seasonal
'This facility is a health and safety nightmare,' Abbot declared.
'The Biden administration is now presiding over the abuse of children. To end this abuse, the Biden administration must immediately shut down this facility.'
President Joe Biden tried to characterize the border crossings as normal seasonal upticks during his late March press conference.
'It happens every single solitary year. There is a significant increase in the number of people coming to the border in the winter months of January, February, March - it happens every year,' Biden said then.
In addition to the claims of child sex abuse and neglect, Abbott also claimed that there were reports of understaffing, children not eating and the failure to separate children with or without COVID-19.
The number of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border is spiking in 2021 compared to 2020, which saw a decrease in crossings thanks to the coronavirus pandemic
A graphic from US Customs and Border Protection shows the number of encounters by region along the border and beyond this fiscal year, with more than 172,000 encounters in March alone
Abbott did not say how many children had reportedly been abused, but he did say that the claims appeared to be 'credible'.
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff says he has not heard anything regarding the possible abuse, and that all of the claims made by the governor have been general allegations.
Families are pouring into the US from Mexico on a daily basis and have pushed crossings up to their highest level in 15 years.
US Customs and Border Protection reported they've had over 569,800 encounters this fiscal year along the Southwest border, including over 172,000 encounters in March.
A large number are unaccompanied minors, which has forced the administration to open its tenth temporary housing facility to accommodate these young arrivals.
Police register names as a group of migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador arrives in the U.S. after crossing the Rio Grande river on Wednesday
Migrant, departing from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are seen after crossing the Rio Grande River in Texas
Asylum seeking migrants board a Border Patrol bus after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States
The vast majority of adults are immediately sent back to Mexico.
The border patrol say they are currently detaining around 5,000 people a day.
The Biden administration is spending at least $60 million per week to care for the more than 16,000 unaccompanied minors in shelters according to The Washington Post.
Despite Vice President Kamala Harris being tapped to address the migration crisis two weeks ago, neither Biden nor Harris have made a trip to the Southwest border region.
The top House Republican, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, tweeted Thursday, 'President Biden said the surge was seasonal. But the #'s don’t lie – 172k migrants were taken into custody last month, a two-decade high.'
Vice President Kamala Harris has not visited the border since being chosen by President Joe Biden White House to find a solution for the migrant crisis
On Monday, Customs and Border Patrol announced that two unnamed Yemeni men on the terror watch list - one 33, the other 26 - had been detained over the last three months in the Calexico area of California.
'So we know people on the terrorist watch list are coming into America,' McCarthy said, pointing to the announcement.
'How are they coming in? How many do we assume go through that we did not catch? Why were they on the watch list? What were they doing coming into the country? Do we have any intel based upon what did they have planned once they entered the country? Who were they going to meet up with?'
McCarthy told Fox News that he requested a classified briefing from the FBI and CIA on the matter and said Vice President Harris should attend.
McCarthy's call for Harris to finally address the crisis came as more images emerged of migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador crossing the Rio Grande and packing shelters in Texas.
Harris hasn't made a border trip in the 15 days since she was charged with dealing with the root causes of the immigration crisis - a role President Joe Biden described as dealing with the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico, in an attempt to stem the flow.
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