Homeland Security chief hears farmers’ concerns, dismisses economic fallout of ICE raids

For years, Brownsville rancher Mark Elbert says he carried a gun to protect himself from cartel activity on his family’s land that sits along the Rio Grande River, as there were fewer U.S. Border Patrol agents in the field and the wall had not yet been built. Some days, he’d come home for lunch and watch cartel vehicles speed past his house carrying loads. 

“Now much of this has dried up,” Mark said. “Before, we didn’t want our kids riding their bikes on the road because they would bring loads in and fly down our street.” 

Now, Elbert’s ranch, which is rented out for dove hunting and farming, sits behind the border wall that stretches along the levee. That doesn’t mean he and his wife Bonnie Elbert still don’t witness illegal activity — they still do — they just feel like when they need to call for help, there are enough agents in the area to respond quickly.

In 2023, there was a massive influx of immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, but that has since subsided.