Texas farmers demand Biden admin pay for property damage caused by illegal immigration

Farmers in Texas near the United States-Mexico border are calling on President Joe Biden to pay for the damages caused by the recent rise in illegal immigration.

The farmers say that "coyotes (human traffickers) abandon people, steal vehicles, vandalize property and threaten the safety and livelihoods of farmers and ranchers." Texas Farm Bureau president Russell Boening told the New York Post that some of its members are seeing human traffickers drive through fields, running over crops, break into homes, and leaving their families stranded.

According to the group, the situation is becoming extremely problematic, and federal help is needed to help stop the crime as farmers are not able to sustain the financial hits. "Local and state border security resources have been exhausted, leaving little help for farmers and ranchers. We respectfully request federal authorities work promptly to provide additional resources and enforce legal immigration to secure U.S. borders," writes the farm bureaus.

"The current situation should not be acceptable to you or to any American. People are being treated as a disposable source of income, and landowners are living in fear while Coyotes reap a windfall from leaving people destitute."

There are various ways in which the smuggling of illegal immigrants is costing farmers. They're often seeing their fences damaged and their crops destroyed. Farmers also say the migrants often bring fever ticks onto the farms, making the property owners to have to hire helicopters to spray the fields to eradicate the ticks, costing $400 an hour.

Illegal border crossings at the United States-Mexico border are hitting record highs, with over 1 million people illegally entering the United States since the inauguration of Biden. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has deployed the national guard to help assist with the crisis at the border. While Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas farm bureau officials did meet with White House representatives, they say they are yet to see anything being done.