Free Republic

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Friday that the construction of the state’s border wall has begun. “Texas has officially started building its own border wall,” Abbott tweeted. “Biden allows open border policies and refuses to enforce laws passed by Congress to secure the border and enforce immigration laws,” The governor added. “Texas is stepping up to do the federal government’s job.” Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin posted pictures of the first panels on Friday. “Texas has officially started building its own border wall. The first wall panels have gone up in Starr County in the RGV. State land,...

STARR COUNTY - Sheriff's Office investigating who tortured and left a man for dead. The Starr County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of 27-year-old Carlos Alberto Garcia. They tell CHANNEL 5 NEWS Garcia's body was found laying in the middle of Docking Street, north of Escobares, Sunday morning. Starr County Sheriff's Office investigators believe the crime scene spans across multiple locations. Investigator Erasmo Rios found a vehicle believed to be connected to the crime at a separate location. Investigators said his body showed signs of torture. Rios said, "When someone is bound by their legs and more than one...

STARR COUNTY - Valley ranchers say they are arming themselves with high-powered rifles to protect their property. Ranchers say handguns aren't enough anymore. They need more firepower. An AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifle holds 30 rounds. It protects this ranch in Starr County, hundreds of acres. "It does have fire power and it's reliable," says the rancher. Barbed wire fencing doesn't keep illegal immigrants off the property anymore. This rancher doesn't care about the illegals. He worries about the smugglers protecting their loads. "I don't think they would have any conscience of taking someone's life," the rancher says. He saw that...

A former plaza boss for the Gulf Cartel is behind bars in the Rio Grande Valley after being arrested in Starr County. U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested 34-year-old Eudoxio Ramos-Garcia at a Rio Grande City home on Thursday. Court records released Wednesday show that Ramos-Garcia is the former plaza boss for the Gulf Cartel across the border from Roma in Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas. U.S. Immigrant & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have taken over the investigation and filed federal drug charges against Ramos-Garcia. Court records show that Ramos-Garcia remained in the drug trafficking business as an independent marijuana smuggler. The records...

LA ROSITA - The search has been called off for Mexican gunmen who fled into the U.S. following a shootout with the Mexican military. It happened near La Rosita in Starr County around 4:00 p.m. Thursday. The Starr County Sheriff's Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, U.S. Border Patrol, and the Texas Rangers all responded to a cornfield six miles west of Rio Grande City following a violent clash between suspected drug cartel members and the Mexican army. At least five armed men crossed into the U.S. during the shootout, but they quickly returned to Mexico to avoid capture.

NEAR McCOOK — State troopers opened fire on a minivan during a chase that stretched more than 30 miles Thursday afternoon. A Starr County sheriff's deputy attempted to stop a gray Honda minivan at 2:21 p.m. Thursday near Zarate Road and Highway 83 east of Rio Grande City, said Trooper Johnny Hernandez, a local Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman. Troopers and deputies pursued the van north from Highway 83, eventually turning toward the east before the pursuit ended at the intersection of Farm-to-Market roads 2058 and 681, north of the Moore Air Base in rural Hidalgo County. Only after...

RIO GRANDE CITY — Three men allegedly raped and abused Mexican girls brought across the Rio Grande to work as prostitutes. Rio Grande City police uncovered the alleged sex trafficking ring during a March 17 traffic stop. Federal authorities have opened their own investigation in the case, as well. But the local criminal charges lodged in the case allege that the juvenile girls — as young as 13 years old — had been brought into the city to work as prostitutes and were sexually abused by their smugglers, as well. Arrested were Juan Antonio Garcia and Juan Chavarria, 25, who...

BROWNSVILLE — A “suspicious object protruding from the brush” in Starr County led Border Patrol agents to a weapons cache that included an AK-47, three M4-style assault rifles, hand grenades, military-style uniforms and other related items, Customs and Border Protection said Monday. The seizure occurred Friday on the banks of the Rio Grande near Fronton, a small community about five miles west of Roma. Agents reported finding the four rifles, two hand grenades, a ballistic vest, two ammunition-carrying vests, three two-way radios, two uniforms, and 16 fully-loaded 30-round magazines. All weapons except the grenades were turned over to Immigration and...

Authorities reported making an unusual discovery in the rural Starr County community of Fronton on Tuesday. Border Patrol agents reported finding two AK-47 assault rifles hidden in a grassy area near the Rio Grande River. The agents were investigating a report about a suspicious vehicle in the area when they discovered the two assault rifles. Each rifle had one round of ammunition loaded in the chamber and 29 additional rounds in the magazine. It's not clear who abandoned the weapons but AK-47s and ammunition were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for further investigation. “These deadly weapons had...

ROMA — U.S. Border Patrol agents spotted a Mexican military helicopter hovering over U.S. territory on Saturday. Agents saw the helicopter near the Roma-Miguel Alemán International Bridge about midday, said Rick Pauza, a spokesman with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Officials could not immediately say how long the aircraft was flying over the United States, but they said it appeared to be in U.S. airspace only briefly. No further details about the sighting were immediately available. Earlier this year, what appeared to be a Mexican helicopter was seen flying over RV parks on the southwest outskirts of Zapata, a small...

A Michigan man is behind bars in the Rio Grande Valley after being caught smuggling guns and bags filled with bulletproof vests into Mexico. U.S. Border Patrol agents spotted Pablo Leyva-Angiano in a car near the Roma International Bridge around 8:15 p.m. Thursday. Court records show that the agents saw two men come from nearby brush, go to the trunk of his and run towards the Rio Grande with two trash bags. The 26-year-old Grand Rapids, Michigan man was going to leave but Border Patrol agents stopped him and searched the trunk of his car. Court records show the agents...

McALLEN, TX—Reymundo Guerra, 52, of Rio Grande City, Texas, has been sentenced to 64 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons without parole for using his position as Sheriff of Starr County, Texas, to facilitate a drug trafficking organization’s ability to conduct its illicit business in exchange for cash, United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. The former Starr County Sheriff was sentenced this afternoon by United States District Judge Randy Crane. In addition to the prison term, Judge Crane ordered Guerra further serve a four-year-term of supervised release – a form of probation with stringent conditions –...

ROMA — A day after a member of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang was arrested in connection with the beating death of an immigrant smuggler north of here, Roel Ramirez said he feared for his family’s safety. He also worries about leaving people alone at his cattle and wildlife ranch nine miles north of here, where people from all over the world come to view and photograph birds. "It’s very, very scary," said Ramirez of the possible presence of the El Salvadoran gang, also known as MS-13. "I spend a lot of time at the ranch. (On Tuesday), my ranch...

STARR COUNTY -- A man faces federal charges after agents find dozens of immigrants held hostage. Border Patrol agents found a stash house in Starr County this week holding dozens of illegal immigrants. A smuggler was reportedly holding them hostage there. Authorities said one man managed to escape and call for help. Agents said they could hear people screaming from inside the house. Police arrested one man who now faces federal charges. The immigrants, all from Honduras and El Salvador, will be deported.

Treviño still confident Republicans can attract Hispanic voters. If the Republican Party of Texas is going to seriously dent the traditional dominance of Democrats in the Rio Grande Valley, it needs more supporters like Isabel Treviño. Treviño, an attorney from Rio Grande City, chairs the Starr County Republican Party and was one of only two GOP members from her county at the state convention. The other was her daughter Sarah. Treviño said the GOP is poised to make significant inroads in the Valley because it shares the same core values as Hispanics. She said those were the importance of religion,...

Ricardo Sanchez rose from poverty in Starr County to become an Army general RIO GRANDE CITY - When Ricardo Sanchez was 13, he and an older brother told his mother they didn't want to go to school anymore. OK, she said. They could pick cotton instead. "I woke them up at 5 in the morning and sent them off in one of the trucks," said Maria Sanchez, the 77-year-old mother of the highest-ranking military official in Iraq. "They came home and they were very tired, but I just gave them some dinner and told them, 'Go to bed because tomorrow...