SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Ariz. (KGUN) — Jim Chilton, owner of Chilton Ranch near Arivaca, Ariz. is shedding light on how people are crossing through his property even though they don’t want to be caught.
He says he wants to share what's happening on his property so people can have a full picture of some of the illegal immigration and smuggling happening at the southern border.
Chilton says he sees a difference between migrants who wish to be caught so they can make their asylum claims, and those trying to evade law enforcement.
“It’s the people in camouflage and the drug packers that worry me,” Chilton said.
Two years ago, one of Chilton's cowboys had a bad encounter with someone on property they suspect was carrying drugs.
“One of our cowboys (got) beat up by the cartel guys and they took (his) phone, all of his money and actually beat him up,” Chilton said.
He showed KGUN 9 the gap in the border wall directly across from one of his fences, that he says is providing easy entry for the two people entering the country. He says they come through the gap and use a gate they created to enter his ranch.
Chilton showed KGUN 9 video from his five hidden cameras on the property. He says he has footage of 3,050 people crossing his ranch, from 2021 to 2023, in camouflage while carrying backpacks. Prior to that he says he averaged just over 200 images from the motion-activated cameras.
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He says the cartels are helping coordinate with the people crossing to help them avoid law enforcement.
“They talk to the people coming through and guide them," Chilton said. "They see the border patrol they say everybody sit down. They’re in camouflage so border patrol never sees them. It makes me angry.”
During the drive to the border, through Chilton's ranch, he pointed out what he called a drug trail. When asked how he knows that was from people he said, “cows don’t walk to a fence and go through it. So why else would there be a trail.”
Last year, Customs and Border Protection seized more than 27,000 pounds of Fentanyl nationwide. They say 44% of that is seized at ports of entry in Nogales. Cochise County Sheriff, Mark Dannels, says that’s just a small portion of what’s coming through.
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“That probably represents 5 to 10 percent from my discussions, what I've been told, so 90-plus percent is getting through to communities across the country,” he said.
Dannels says fentanyl and meth are the drugs that affect Cochise County the most.
“These are hard narcotics, elicit drugs that are coming into are communities that have high addiction and high death toll to them,” he said.
Chilton and Dannels agree that having more eyes at the border can help with the drug smuggling and illegal crossings at the border.
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