Cartel vs Cowboy: The man whose ranch is on smuggling route
Thursday 25 October 2018 07:32, UK
by Stuart Ramsay, chief correspondent, and Tom Acres, news reporter
However impressive your back garden might be, it will undoubtedly pale in comparison to the vast expanse of land owned and enjoyed by Arizonan rancher Jim Chilton.
The fifth-generation cattleman - who would look right at home on a John Wayne film set - has a 50,000 acre plot right on his doorstep, but there are more than cows and rattlesnakes to be found among the terrain.
Whenever he takes a ride out in his truck, there is a good chance Jim may catch a sighting of members of a Mexican cartel, smuggling drugs into the US via a border that amounts to nothing more than a flimsy fence.
With a southern drawl right at home in what he insists is still very much the "wild west", the rancher told Sky News his land was home to "one of the busiest crossing points in the area".
Even at the age of 89, Jim is able to shuffle his way into Mexico with about as much effort as it takes to get out of bed, and estimates that up to 4,000 "drug packers" come through each year.
But these days it is not just marijuana being funnelled through - there are also thousands of people being escorted.
Migrants from all over the world, desperate to seek out a new life in the US, entrust smugglers with securing them safe passage to the border.
"You used to get old fashioned coyotes, who would bring people across, get $200 or $300 from them each, and guide them into the US," Mr Chilton recalls.
"Now the cartel has scouts on our mountains and charge about $3,000 for Mexicans wanting to come through, $7,000 to $9,000 for middle (Central) Americans, and $25,000 to $75,000 for Asians."
He continues: "Most of the people coming through that are just looking for work are coming from Guatemala, Honduras and other Central American states.
"We've also had Iraqis come through, people from states in the Middle East, but most of the arrests made by the border patrol are from Guatemala now."
Mr Chilton - who runs his ranch with wife Sue - describes it as a "national security issue" and is a firm believer that the border wall proposed by Donald Trump should indeed be built.
With the nearest border patrol about 80 miles away and little in the way of a police presence, he says it would appear as though officials have "given up the fight".
One sign on his land suggests as much, warning passers-by that "smuggling and illegal immigration may be encountered in this area".
And earlier this year, a border patrolman was almost killed on the ranch after being shot by a suspected smuggler.
Transporting drugs and desperate migrants is a lucrative business and Mr Chilton says the cartel practically controls the area, timing their movements from Mexico so that they can go unseen.
He said: "The border control don't come out here - they've left this area basically available to the cartel, it's basically a no man's land.
"We need a wall and forward operation bases - border officials should be posted at the wall, and if anyone climbs over the wall, they should arrest them."
For now, however, nothing is likely to change.