Share I ve got six deputies to cover 1,300 square miles. So this push is keeping my deputies working overtime. We can t sustain this, Sheriff Coe said. We re seeing property damage that I ve never seen before. We probably have $100,000 worth of fence damage in the past two weeks, where large groups of aliens are cutting fences on private property and walking through like they own the place, he continued.
Coe said that he has been keeping a tally of the damage to present to state and local lawmakers to try to open up people s eyes to the impact of the migrant surge on his community.
15 Mar 2021
Far from Washington, D.C., Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe and his deputies see the effects of the recent surge in illegal immigration following the reversals of Trump era executive policies. Daily, his department fields phone calls from Texas ranchers frustrated with the increase in migrant traffic and the related damage to their properties.
Sheriff Coe is no stranger to immigration issues. Prior to being elected sheriff four years ago, Coe spent 31 years as a Border Patrol agent and supervisor at the Brackettville Station in the seat of Kinney County. He is intricately familiar with the crossings along the Rio Grande in his remote West Texas county. Coe says 70 percent of the work performed by his six deputies is related to illegal immigration. The department experienced a steady increase in immigration-related calls for service from ranchers since January.