When Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the Mexican border earlier this month, The Dallas Express attended.
During Noem’s visit, she announced plans for new water barriers along the Rio Grande River at a press conference near Brownsville.
The open border has notoriously painted a stark picture – but recent efforts are bringing hope to nearby ranchers.
Mark Elbert, a farmer with a background at the Brownsville Police Department, said that the situation had improved drastically, as DX previously reported.
“Before, we didn’t want our kids riding their bikes down the road. Because they’d bring ‘loads’ in and fly down our street,” Elbert said. “It’s not that way now… You see a lot more agents out here than you ever did under Biden.”
The Dallas Express captured photographs of the task at hand.
The Ranch
The Dallas Express drove down FM 1419, into the southernmost tip of Texas, around 8 a.m. on January 7. Border Patrol trucks with horse trailers pulled in front, as the steel wall came into view.
DX turned left onto a dirt road, passing a security checkpoint and through an open gate in the wall.
Eventually, the path led to a small barn. Reporters were setting up cameras and microphones for the round table, as DHS staffers set the scene for a roundtable with the ranch owners. Meanwhile, Border Patrol agents were seen watching the perimeter, and others huddled in groups. A drone flew overhead.
Police motorcycles and SUVs kicked up dust from the dirt road, leading Noem’s caravan to the scene.
Noem stepped out, gathering with staffers behind the barn, only visible through a small window.
Noem sat down at the picnic tables, flanked by Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks, other officials, and South Texas ranchers. They discussed the dramatic drop in illegal crossings under Trump’s administration – and the challenges that persist.
The Rio Grande
Reporters boarded DHS buses and vans and set out along the dirt road, further along the Mexican side of the border wall—the bumpy path led through the ranchers’ fields, alongside the Rio Grande River.
Patrol boats with the Coast Guard and Border Patrol eased up and down the waterway.
The reporters left the buses and vans and made their way to the river, noticing shotgun shells on the sandy banks.
Noem made her way across the fields on horseback, surrounded by a caravan of SUVs.
DHS press wranglers rounded up the reporters, and they set off to their final destination – where Noem would unveil the new water barriers.
The Buoys
The driver turned down FM 1419 and drove alongside the border wall for roughly 15 minutes. Turning again, the bus rattled down another dirt road.
The driver passed the guards and returned to the Mexican side of the border wall, continuing along the Rio Grande on the near side and Brownsville on the other.
The bus pulled into a gravel parking lot. Reporters streamed out and took their positions, preparing for Noem’s press conference.
Noem took the podium, surrounded by Coast Guard and Border Patrol boats on her left and right. In the middle sat a prototype of the new buoys – an interlocking water barrier that spins to keep illegal aliens from climbing over.
Noem said the buoys would stretch 500 miles, with the first 100 already funded. Federal officials had already installed a line of barriers in the Rio Grande outside Brownsville.
At the earlier roundtable, Banks said the Biden administration had banned Border Patrol agents from doing their jobs.
“We just weren’t allowed to do it; we were ordered not to do it by the previous administration,” he said. “This administration has just said, ‘What do you need?’”
