A news team from MS NOW found themselves in a tricky situation when their SUV got stuck in the remote Texas desert, prompting a rescue by eight Border Patrol agents.
According to Antonia Hylton, part of the crew was reporting from the Big Bend region for “The Assignment” when their Jeep Wagoneer became immobilized shortly after visiting Alvarado Ranch.
“As the sun went down, our Jeep Wagoneer bottomed out in the desert,” Hylton recounted.
The situation became increasingly urgent as darkness set in. Hylton expressed gratitude, noting, “Eight Border Patrol agents in four different trucks came out that night to rescue our crew.”
However, the rescue effort faced its own challenges; “Three of their four vehicles got trapped in the process,” she mentioned.
This incident unfolded while Hylton was investigating local landowners’ concerns regarding government attempts to acquire private land for border barriers through eminent domain.
One of the landowners is Yolanda Alvarado, whose family has held land in the area for five generations. She fears losing access to their Rio Grande water source or being separated from an ancestral cemetery due to a border barrier.
Hylton also aimed to highlight the rugged landscape along this part of the US-Mexico border, where mountains, the Rio Grande, and vast stretches of desert complicate travel.
Standing on the U.S. side, she explained the daunting obstacles for someone trying to cross into Texas from Mexico. “If you’re in Mexico and want to come here to Texas, you would first have to scale that mountain range, which is thousands of feet high,” she said.
After descending and crossing the Rio Grande, “you’d still be dozens and dozens of miles away from the nearest town center where you could get food, water, fuel, supplies,” she added.
“Oh, and at many points of the year, you’d be doing that in 100-degree heat,” she continued.
The Big Bend sector represents 1.3% of total border apprehensions, according to the report.
The program also showcased criticism of the border wall from local officials, including Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, who has a background as a Border Patrol agent spanning 26 years.
Concerns raised in the report ranged from private property rights to the potential effects on tourism-dependent communities.
The Post has reached out for comments from MS NOW and Border Patrol.
