The sheriff of western Texas, Tad Cleveland, knows better than anyone who cannot take his eyes off the border, only in the most remote parts of the state of the lonely star. Despite the deceleration in illegal alien crossings throughout the country and an increase in deportations, Cleveland tells Breitbart Texas: “He even thought that crosses have decreased, we are still tracking groups of illegal foreigners in the hope of obtaining the moving of the authorities.”
Cleveland says that the deceleration in border crossings has been drastic and note in the remote parts of Terrell County of Western Texas, where it works as Sheriff. The county includes 90 miles from Rio Grande to the west of Sandon County, which has less than 1,000 residents.
More than two thousand square miles of hard and brushing land presents level plains in the east and mountainous areas with guns in the west. County portions vary in elevation and increase in some parts of 1,300 to 4,000 feet above sea level. The hard and scarcely populated terrain makes the crossing and attempt to cross the county on foot is extremely dangerous.
Sheriff Cleveland knows the area well. He was appointed the Sheriff for the first time in May 2022 and then chosen for the position he still occupies today. Before becoming Sheriff, Cleveland only about 26 years in the border patrol of the United States, serving in several border sectors throughout the country. Cleveland spent the last 11 years serving as a patrol agent in charge of the Sanderon Border Patrol Station.
Breitbart Texas spoke extensively to Cleveland about what he has since the inauguration of President Trump and a return to more strict border security policies. Cleveland says that the results are notable in the number of smuggling attempts that sees on local roads.
Althegh The presence of smugglers on the roads has been reduced, Cleveland says that they still occur and entail the same risks for the residents of the small rural county.
“The danger that smugglers represent for our community and the country is the same. If they flee from the authorities and collide with an innocent civilian even once, it is too many times,” Cleveland told Breitbart Texas. Despite being removed from the border patrol, Cleveland continues to use its skills as a tracker. It allows its deputies to join forces with the Border Patrol, the Public Security Road Patrol of Texas and the Texas Military Department to carry out the border security mission jointly.
“This is a difficult terrain, and tracking people who try to cross here is a process that requires a lot of time,” said the Sheriff. “Our last joint monitoring strives for a successful judgment of a group of illegal foreigners with the 16 -hour border patrol tok to solve and covered boxes of miles of land.”
“Until we make a shave, we do not know who we are dealing with, so it is essential that we succeed and keep the task,” Cleveland emphasized.
Cleveland and its deputies have noticed several points in common among the slurry of illegal foreigners who continue to try to cross their county: most are from Mexico, they must be men and almost all dress with complete camouflage clothing. The way of dressing causes illegal border crossings groups to be difficult to detect. Extreme temperatures in the region, especially Texas’ summer duration, discourage some women and children from walking on foot.
Between May 2022 and February 2025, the agents of the Sheriff of the Terrell County arrested almost 2,000 illegal foreigners and registered 209 seizures related to the border with only a few deputies. A legacy of the last two years of the Biden Administration, according to Cleveland, are the 31 illegal deaths of foreigners that occurred in their county. The deputies of Cleveland helped the border patrol and the state authorities in the opinion of thousands more.
According to CBP, illegal alien crossings shot inside the Big Bend sector, once silent, surrounding Sanderson, Texas. Between 2017 and 2019, the sector averaged less than 10,000 apprentices per year. By 2022, the number of illegal apprehensions of aliens increased to more than 31000. In February, CBP registered only 165 illegal apprehensions of aliens compared to more than 3,000 in February 2022, just before the Cleveland Tok office.
Cleveland summarized the current border situation, saying that the authorities along the border cannot lose their focus, even if illegal crosses fall to zero. “The posters and the independent smuggers will never stop trying to make people and smuggled through the border through the border. Our citizens expect us to be out there and that we remain vigilant,” Cleveland concluded.
Randy Clark He is a 32 -year -old veteran of the United States border patrol. Before his retirement, he worked as a division head for operations of application of the law, directing operations for nine border patrol stations within the Río sector, Texas. Follow it in X (previously Twitter) @randyclarkbtx.
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