Be warned – there are some very graphic images here. I wrestled with whether or not to write about this… but this is the reality of what is going on along our southern US border. If I don’t publish them – who will? After watching Chris Burgard’s shocking documentary ‘Border,’ I felt compelled to speak out.

The desert heat is so intense; the skin of these corpses literally cooks and breaks apart, leaving an empty hollow shell. You can see her spinal column still resting in her neck. She most likely died of dehydration… yet she was found just a few yards away from a water tank. These coyotes are only concerned with moving on and getting from point A to point B and the caravan doesn’t stop for anyone.

This gruesome scene is not an isolated incident… After talking with Chris more about his first hand experiences while making the film, he told me that Border Patrol, Minutemen, law enforcement, and ranch owners constantly find rotting corpses scattered throughout the desert along the coyote trails. In the counties around the Vicker’s ranch (where the Border movie was filmed) they have found 50 bodies between January and July of this year. This is not the Sudan, this is not Afghanistan or Georgia… this is America. What the hell is happening on our borders?!?


A lot of people die of dehydration. But these drug cartel and coyotes are not nice people. You can say that those who put themselves in the situation to cross the border know the risk they are taking – I agree. But for the American people who live on the ranches along the coyote trails, are in just as much danger – if not more from drug runners and coyotes who will do just about anything to avoid being caught.

I can only imagine the scene that ensued before this man drifted off into death. Found underneath a shade tree with his shoes off and still gripping a water bottle, it appears as if he went to sleep an never woke up again.

MILLIONS of people attempt to illegally cross over the southern border into California, Arizona, and Texas. But many of them never make it through alive. Approximately 500,000 people are arrested each year in Arizona alone. Border Patrol says they catch one out of four, but residents say it is less. That puts the conservative estimates for Arizona near 2 million.

Women have to defend themselves against more than just the weather. Coyotes are notorious for raping the women and leaving them for dead. ‘Rape Trees’ – trophy trees with branches adorned with scores of women’s panties – can be found along the coyote paths.

Chris said that two weeks after visiting Linda Vicker’s ranch (one of the spots they filmed in the Border movie), her dogs ran up to greet her with what appeared to be a ball. But when they got closer and dropped it at her feet, she realized that it was not a ball at all – it was a human skull.

Everyone has a different story for crossing the border. Some come for work – to feed their families back in Mexico where earning a living wage is a struggle. Can you blame them? These coyotes charge big fees to bring ‘human cargo’ across the border. And sometimes, American companies are footing that bill. These coyotes don’t really care if someone falls behind or runs out of water as they were paid their fee.

After watching this movie I can’t stop thinking about this “situation” on the border. I call it a “situation,” because it’s hard for me to point the finger at any one person. I don’t blame these workers for wanting to earn more money. I don’t complain about low prices at the store. I also know it would be a disaster to let anyone who wanted to come over walk across the border and stay as long as they like.

I guess in the past, I’d always thought there were only 2 options: seal off the border, or open it up to everyone… but obviously, that isn’t working either. Good people die while the lucky ones lower the cost of our goods. At the same time, drug dealers and violent gang members, and even the Mexican military slip right into America.

When I read Chris’s 90-day plan to stop the immigration crisis it made so much sense. It’s not a bill drafted in Washington where people have no first hand experience about what is going on down here. This is a compilation of ideas of Border Patrol Agents, law enforcement, American’s who live along the southern borders, those for human rights, those against amnesty, Minutemen, politicians, laborers, and business owners – ideas from all sides of the fence and all political viewpoints. It’s not ultra liberal, and its not ultra conservative. It just makes freakin’ sense.

I never expected to feel this way after watching this movie. We don’t hear much about it on the news or from the government. But in the border towns, this crisis has reached epidemic proportions. Many citizens so concerned for the safety and future of our country that they are picking up where the government is leaving off. They camp out on the border on their own time and at their own risk to protect us all from the devastation surrounding this mess…

If these images that reveal just a hint of what is happening right here on our border have affected you in the least, I urge you to do something about it. Educate yourself on what is really going on down there. Tell the people you know about the Border documentary. Read and sign the 90-day plan to stop the immigration crisis.

If enough people come to understand the horror of the border crisis through these horrible images then perhaps these folks will not have died alone in vain.

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