Local rancher testifies before CongressMarch 1, 2006
www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4571653FALFURRIAS - A rancher from Falfurrias testified Wednesday at a Senate hearing on border violence. He was asked to speak by Texas Senator John Cornyn, who's trying to get Congress to address what he calls an "unacceptable situation".
"My neighbors and I are facing circumstances that can best be described as deplorable," said rancher Lavogyer Durham. He's a longtime Falfurrias rancher and described to the immigration subcommittee how dangerous life has become for people living in the border region.
"I can provide accounts or ranchers being fired upon, security guards being beaten at gunpoint and women being threatened in their own homes by aliens," he said. The added the stories are endless and only going to get worse. "We now must live with the constant possibility that we could be attacked or killed on our own properties."
Durham along with several Texas law enforcement agents gave every reason why the federal government should be using all of its resources to gain control of the border.
"Some are drug runners who cut our fences so that they can carry backpacks full of contraband north of our nation, others are members of what the news media is describing as the most violent crime organization in the U.S. known as the Mara Salva Trucha," Durham said.
The Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to begin debating comprehensive immigration reforms on Thursday.
Online Reporter: Jozannah Quintanilla