QUEMADO, Texas — Driving his pickup truck through the 8,200-acre ranch he manages, Texas rancher Wayne King said he has continuously had to fix his fence thousands of times as illegal migrants continue to invade his land.
Those repairs are essential for the safety of both his animals and the community — he keeps exotic African and Indian animals on his property for clients to hunt recreationally, but many have gone missing because of illegal immigrants crossing through.
“I’ve had them cut big holes, big square holes where they can get through. I’ve had them cut from top to bottom, lay it back, drive through it,” King said. “I’ve already estimated we’ve lost about $400,000 in revenue from game being out.”
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The exotic species of animals at Tequesquite Ranch in Quemado, Texas include scimitar-horned oryx, kudu, addax, lechwe, blesbok, impala, eland, gazelle, gemsbok, wildebeest, zebra, blackbuck, as well as fallow and axis deer.
King said he’s frustrated by the migrants causing destruction to his property rather than passing through harmlessly or crossing legally.
“If they really wanted to do this right, why are they coming to my pastures? Why are they destroying water troughs? Water lines, windmills, fences? Why are they doing that? Why don’t they just cross the bridge where they can get all of the government’s handouts and everything’s hunky dory?”
Tequesquite Ranch in Quemado, Texas has several exotic animals from Africa and India / The Daily Wire
King, who lives in a house on the property, said he’s been awakened in the middle of the night by migrants surrounding his house.
“I’ve had several instances where I woke up anywhere from 11:00 [at night] to 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, with my house surrounded and everybody banging on my windows and doors, and I’ve stepped out with my pistol and told them to get. And with the big groups, I just let them bang and go, because you don’t dare step outside.”
“I don’t care: they ain’t coming in and I ain’t going out,” King said when asked what he thought the migrants wanted from him.
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Under Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), law enforcement in several counties began to use the powerful tactic of arresting illegal migrants with landowners’ permission for trespassing on private property. At King’s ranch, law enforcement is permitted to access the land and arrest migrants that are detected crossing through on cameras or by helicopters.
“We’re all tickled to death with what he’s doing,” King said of Abbott. “Nobody else has decided to do that.”
The migrants crossing through ranches are what law enforcement calls “gotaways” or migrants who do not wish to turn themselves in and claim asylum because they are criminals or have a difficult time qualifying.
King said he’s seen several different nationalities of migrants.
Wayne King says local law enforcement has access to Tequesquite Ranch to arrest migrants for trespassing on private property.
“I’ve had Middle Easterners, I’ve had Somalians, I’ve had nearly every country in South America come through,” he said. “We just caught a group a week ago. We caught eight and you could look at every one of them and they were no good.”
King said he was very appreciative of Abbott for standing up to the Biden Administration and said he’s beginning to see a difference.
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“When I say it’s slowed down, that’s a loose term,” King said, pointing out that there’s still more work to do. “ When this first started, it was 100 [migrants] a week coming through here. Now I’m down to probably 25 a week, but we shouldn’t have to put up with it.”
“Abbott is doing his utmost best to protect us here on the border,” he added. “It’s just crazy. I mean, but what else do you want to call it when our state is trying to protect us, but yet our federal government is trying to stop the state from protecting us.”
King added that he believes that the federal government and Congress need to step up and do more.
“I’m sick to my stomach over it,” he said. “I’m 72 years old, so I go way back and I remember when people were actually patriotic and people actually love this country and I don’t see it right now in Congress.”
“When you go up there and you become a senator, you become a representative, you become president, you take an oath to protect our borders,” he added. “Well, I don’t see it and neither of us down here on the border see it.”