New Mexico Rancher Says His Ranch Has Been 'Under Siege' Amid Joe Biden's Border Crisis
It’s not a crisis. It’s not a crisis. Keep telling yourself what’s happening on the border isn’t a crisis.
Don’t listen to people like Russell Johnson. He’s a New Mexico cattle rancher who’s been pointing out how President Joe Biden’s border crisis — wait, don’t call it a crisis! — border situation-type-thing has affected his life.
On Friday, he was on Fox News (so you can tell where his political leanings are, am I right people?) talking about what the Biden administration’s actions to reverse the Trump administration’s immigration policies has done.
In particular, Biden’s decision to halt construction on the border wall has left what Fox News hosts called a “gaping” hole leading right onto Johnson’s property.
While he said he wasn’t as fearful about the situation as some other ranchers the outlet has interviewed, Johnson wasn’t exactly thrilled.
“Living down here on the border, you can’t live in fear,” the rancher said. “The way everything’s going nowadays with the new policies put forth by this administration, it’s making things a lot more difficult and a lot more unsafe in our area.”
His issue isn’t the one we hear about most, the unaccompanied minors pouring into the United States. Instead, the fact there was an unfinished part of the border wall meant that there was going to be plenty of traffic otherwise.
“We have a three-quarter-mile gap,” Johnson said, “and they’re exploiting this.
“We don’t have the unaccompanied minors coming to our area. What we have is a criminal element.”
He hasn’t seen drug activity firsthand but said Border Patrol agents have “picked up tracks” of over 50 people who came through the hole in the fence last Saturday.
Only 30 were caught, however. That means over 20 still remain out there.
“People don’t realize this isn’t just a border problem. This affects everybody,” Johnson said.
Not a crisis, though, not a crisis.
Ignore, too, Johnson’s neighbors. He said they had “Border Patrol apprehend a group of 12 people” on their property.
But these immigrants just wanted a better life. Can’t he understand that?
“They were wearing camouflage and ski masks,” Johnson said. “Those aren’t upstanding people coming over here looking for a job.”
Oh.
And keep in mind, this is the second time Johnson has gone on Fox News, which is enough to make anyone a pariah nowadays.
During that appearance, the weekend before last, he complained these job-seekers were coming close to his home, which sounds dangerously close to prejudice.
“This gap is right south of my house,” he said. “All of this stuff is coming right by my house. My family’s exposed to it on a daily basis.”
But borders don’t work! Doesn’t he understand that these people would be “coming right by my house” if they didn’t build that border wall … that would stop those people from coming right by his house?
Again, not a crisis, not a crisis.
Breathe deep.
The deeper you breathe, the more you’ll avoid thinking about it.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
