The Tamaulipas Travel Agency
May 27th, 2009 | By Michel Marizco | Category: General News, Immigration
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Today’s story comes from Texas rancher/writer Elizabeth Burns whom I asked to contribute a Dispatch from Tamaulipas. She keeps a blog from South Texas from where she chronicles the fiascos of the Texas oil fortunes, Rancho Los Malulos, an entertaining read.
THE BORDER REPORT
I live on a large ranch along the Texas border with Tamaulipas with my husband and two young sons. We moved here about three years ago. This place is interesting, to say the least. Sometimes it feels like a bit of a lobby for some international travel agency. Except the lobby is my ranch. We get to meet people from all over the world. Thousands of pilgrims stream through here on a weekly basis.
Oddly, we have very few Mexicans. It’s about fifty percent Central Americans (OTM’s) and about fifty percent “exotics.” That’s what the Border Patrol call them: Exotics: Chinese, Somalians, Iranians, and all sorts of folks from some country right next to Ethiopia that starts with an “E” and is in the middle of a civil war. Being that I am American, my knowledge of geography and world events is severely lacking. Maybe Eritrea? They are tall and very very black. So, when you see them strolling down the caliche roads, it’s a very National Geographic touch.
When I find people abandoned or lost in the brush, I always call Border Patrol. It’s my job as a law abiding citizen. Often, by the time we find people, they are ready to surrender. They have been left behind and are close to death. Others don’t want to go with law enforcement. They beg me to take them to Houston (Mecca for all pilgrims – a 350 mile drive) Or, they want me to call their coyote. But, I never do. I don’t want to get involved.
It usually takes about two hours for Border Patrol to get this far out. If people don’t want to go with BP, they have plenty of time to abscond. If they wait for BP, I have time to visit with them. I asked one Bangladeshi fellow how he ended up in my pasture from Bangladesh. He spoke perfect English and had been to University in the States. First he went from Bangladesh to Pakistan. He said he had flown from Pakistan to Moscow on a 737 packed with other pilgrims. In Moscow, they got tourist permits for Guatemala. Again, they flew on chartered 737’s to Guatemala City. He took a bus from Guatemala to the Tamaulipan border. He said he had paid $43,000 up front for the trip. He was walking through our ranch with about 60 other pilgrims to bypass the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint. The Border Patrol helicopter arrived on the scene. Everyone scattered. He was traveling with his cousin and they stuck together. After a few days together wandering in the brush, he wanted to quit and followed some power lines to our house. His cousin didn’t want to give up and stayed alone in the brush. No telling what happened to him. Maybe he died?
One time I was talking to a Border Patrol agent. He was asking if I carried a gun. I do. I told him I was really hoping that I never have to shoot anyone. I don’t want to be on the news as “American Rancher kills Exotic” with some racial spin. He just looked at me and laughed, “Are you crazy? No one is going to notice another dead body on your place.”
We have never found a dead body but it’s a big place and we aren’t out in the brush that much. Apparently, dead bodies don’t last long because we have a lot of javelinas and coyotes.
Since the Bangladeshi episode, we have put a fence around our house with 11,000 pulsing volts of electricity. Just ask for Buffalo grade hot-wire at your local Farm and Ranch. It’s a huge seller around here, even though no one I know raises buffalo. Not all the pilgrims are as polite as that guy from Bangladesh.
Absolutely fascinating…you really may want to consider contacting CNN or 20/20 or such with this story, I am printing and copying it as I think it makes a very interesting and surprising read.
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43k up front for the trip, where do they get that kind of money?? I sure don’t get it here, should I move to Bangladesh???
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only if you have 43k to get back out.
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im seriously in the wrong line of work……….freaking economy is all jacked up and these people pay up front????? I better start looking into vessels and other types of transportation!
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They did it why couldn’t I?
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Well I dont know about you, but I wouldnt put my life on the line for a gamble…..
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Methinks the odds are somehow considered better doing this than staying in there home country.
Just heard an interview with a strawberry(?) farmer on the radio, said she hires who comes and applies, even in this economy Americans (re: whites) do not want to do the work…is not an immigration problem, it’s a fat and lazy problem. (I have worked in fields too)
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43k may seem like a lot but it is only because these people were willing(however ill-advised) to sell everything except the cloths on their back to make the trip. Could you do it?
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I dont have 43k in assets!! I owe my car my home…….do they take credit?
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Why would you own a ranch on the border?
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The ranches in this part of the country tend to be large because it is arid and people need 40 acres per cow. You need to have 1000 cows to have some economy of scale back in the old day, so 40,000 acres wasn’t such a big ranch back in the 1930′s when it was purchased. It was good for cattle because there is good fresh ground water very shallow – like 8 feet in our area. Land was very cheap back then so people had to get ranches where they could afford them. Even then there was smuggling and bootlegging. THe area really got established in the 1860′s as a way to get cotton out with the civil war blockade. Many people that ended up here came from Louisiana and Mississippi on Steamships to smuggle cotton and then just stayed.
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You have no complaint. You are the one living in occupied Mexico and NO Mexican is ever “illegal” in any of the territory stolen from Mexico by the USA.
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who is complaining? We don’t get a lot of Mexicans walking thru “the monte”. More OTM’s and exotics. You are correct, it is occupied by Mexicans — most of the ranches are owned by Mexicans. They aren’t walking around the checkpoint. they live here. It is pretty much like Mexico in the terrain and the culture, but people like to be considered USA as they get welfare, social services and farming subsidies. No one is complaining that it is considered USA as they get the best of both worlds. It’s like Mexico with free money from the USA govt. I like living here because it’s like living in a foreign country (Mexico) but you can carry a gun and the electricity is so much cheaper.
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It’s a good thing you call the border patrol instead of just letting them pass through.
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Thanks for the link. Elizabeth Burns’s blog is outstanding. Check out, also, her work documenting the outrageous, criminal behavior of oil companies like Chevron, Valero, and ExxonMobil.
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Elizabeth Burn’s blog is truly outstanding! This article is just a small snippet of what you can find on her blog, and I would encourage anyone to check out her blog and comical (or as she calls it “satirical” ) view of life in that area. Especially dealing with the long term hazards of the oil companies’ unethical behavior and practicing standards that her family is exposed to.
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Hey, you’re really taking off! I’m Impressed.
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I would have thought the oil companies operating on your ranch would want to keep the pilgrams away from their equipment for safety reasons, both for the people and their equipment! Sounds like you have more people walking around at night than in the day. And I thought exotics on south Texas ranches had four legs…
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LOL. You really expect me to believe all of this? You ought to write fiction books, for crying out loud.
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