Border ranchers say barbed-wire fence helps separate their property from Mexico — but at a cost

Some border ranchers living in Nogales, Arizona, have taken it upon themselves to maintain a barbed-wire fence where the U.S. – Mexico border touches parts of their land.

Dan Bell, a local cattle rancher, showed Border Report where the border wall comes in from the city of Nogales and ends. That’s where it meets a barbed-wire fence. Bell says it’s likely due to terrain and the lack of funding at the time when the wall was built.

“It’s probably been here for about 12 or 15 years,” he said.

On the other side of the barbed wire fence is Mexico. The fence is there as a barrier for cattle...

“We maintain this portion of the fence for our own purposes to keep our cattle from going into Mexico and to keep Mexican cattle from coming in,” Bell said...

“Prior to this bollard-style fence and these roads that we actually came in on and then the towers that you see in the distance, this was a heavily used corridor,” he said. “They started putting in the infrastructure along with the road system to allow agents to get in here and then the technology to assist the agents and identifying people – that’s when we started to see a difference.” ...