Jim Chilton and his ancestors have been involved in ranching in Arizona since the late 1800s. In recent years, the aging rancher has been forced to divide his time between running a successful cattle business and keeping a watchful eye out for cartel smuggling on his remote border ranch south of Arivaca, Arizona.
Chilton sometimes finds himself helping migrants in distress and, at other times, keeping a sharp eye out for the cartel smugglers and foot guides that push hundreds or thousands of migrants and narcotics across his land.
In a recent report by the Daily Mail, Chilton can be seen patrolling the remote desert ranch armed with a carbine he carries to protect himself and his family. The area where the Chilton ranch is located is known for the crossing of hundreds of migrants monthly, where Border Patrol agents have reduced routine patrols at times due to the increase in migrant crossings elsewhere.
The ranch sits between Nogales and Lukeville, Arizona, directly across the border from the Mexican state of Sonora — known for its violent Sinaloa cartel activity. Chilton told the Daily Mail his activities on the ranch are under constant surveillance by armed cartel members equipped with scoped rifles and night vision. The smugglers, Chilton says, routinely traffic people across his ranch into the United States.
Chilton says his dealings with the cartel have worsened over the last three years, but the illicit activity is nothing new to the seasoned cattle rancher. In 2018, nearly eight years ago, Chilton sat with the late Penny Starr, a Breitbart News reporter, to discuss what living on the ranch in the remote border area was like.
In her report for Breitbart News, Starr accompanied Chilton on a tour of the ranch as they discussed his experiences dealing with cartel operatives seeking to move migrants and narcotics into the United States. “Most of our ranch is occupied by the Sinaloa Cartel,” Chilton told Starr, referring to one of the most violent cartels operating in the region.
Chilton was dealing with similar cartel activities at that time, which have only worsened over the years. Chilton told Breitbart News the cartel members were not only bringing drugs, weapons, and people across the border but the cartel scouts were also positioned on mountaintops to monitor for the presence of Border Patrol agents.
The level of migrant crossings in the area has spiked in recent months as efforts underway in Mexico have reduced the migrant flow farther east in Texas by up to 60% in some areas. The efforts in Mexico, mainly concentrated on removing migrants from freight train routes known as “La Bestia” or the beast, have little impact on the western states of Arizona and California. The increase in migrant crossings in Arizona may be a sign Chilton’s battle with the cartel is far from over.
A source within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, not authorized to speak to the media, told Breitbart Texas migrant apprehensions in the area have increased by nearly 120 percent during February as compared to the same time frame last year. In the first three weeks of the month, more than 33,000 migrants have been apprehended by the Border Patrol compared to slightly more than 15,000 during the first three weeks of February 2023.
Since the new fiscal year began in October, more than 284,000 migrants entered in and around Chilton’s ranch in the Tucson Sector. This total marks a 173 percent increase compared to last year’s total of 105,000 for the same time frame.
The source told Breitbart Texas “Thousands of migrants are willingly surrendering near Lukeville and San Miguel, dealing with that humanitarian situation keeps us from actively patrolling other areas like the Chilton Ranch where migrants are not surrendering and instead are hoping to completely avoid apprehension.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
Laken Hope Riley, the 22-year-old Augusta University nursing student allegedly killed by an illegal alien released into the United States, is the latest American woman to fall victim to the federal government’s inability to enforce immigration law.
Laken Riley
On February 22, Riley went for a morning jog along the University of Georgia’s campus in Athens, where she had transferred from in 2023. When she did not return, her roommate called the police who started a search for Riley.
Riley graduated from the University of Georgia and had started nursing school at Augusta University’s Athens campus. Riley had been an avid runner since her time in high school when she ran cross country in Woodstock, Georgia.
Only hours after Riley left for her morning run, her body was found in a wooded area near Lake Herrick. Police said Riley’s body showed visible injuries. The following day, police arrested 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal alien from Venezuela.
Ibarra first crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in September 2022. As part of President Joe Biden’s expansive Catch and Release network, where millions have been released, Ibarra was freed into the U.S. interior with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials citing a lack of detention space to keep him locked up.
According to DHS sources, Ibarra should have been deported from the U.S. in September 2023 when he was arrested in Queens, New York, for injuring a child under the age of 17. Instead, thanks to the city’s sanctuary policy, Ibarra was released from jail rather than being turned over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
Ibarra is now charged with Riley’s kidnapping and murder as well as aggravated battery, aggravated assault, hindering a 911 call, and concealing the death of a person.
Laken Hope Riley (Photo via Facebook)
Mollie Tibbetts
The murder of Mollie Tibbetts is perhaps the most similar case to Riley’s.
On July 18, 2018, in Brooklyn, Iowa, University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, 20-years-old, went for a jog when she was confronted and then chased down by then-24-year-old Cristhian Bahena Rivera — an illegal alien from Mexico.
Bahena Rivera, convicted of Tibbetts’ murder in May 2021 and sentenced to life without parole in August 2021, kidnapped Tibbetts, stabbed her up to 12 times on her head, torso, hand, and neck before dumping her body in a cornfield and covering her in corn stalks.
Though he continues to profess his innocence, Bahena Rivera led police to Tibbetts’ body more than a month after she had first gone missing.
Bahena Rivera was able to work on a dairy farm using a stolen ID and Social Security card after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border at 17-years-old. There were no indications that DHS ever had Bahena Rivera on their radar.
Mollie Tibbetts (Photo via Facebook)
Kayla Hamilton
On July 27, 2022, just days after Kayla Hamilton’s 20th birthday, she was found dead on the floor of her bedroom in Aberdeen, Maryland. According to prosecutors, an illegal alien MS-13 Gang member went into Hamilton’s bedroom, strangled her with the cord of a phone charger, raped her, and robbed her of $6.
Hamilton, during the struggle, called her boyfriend for help but the call went to voicemail. Hamilton’s murder can be heard in the more than 2-minute-long voicemail.
The illegal alien MS-13 Gang member was arrested in January 2023 after it took police months to search for the suspect in Hamilton’s murder.
In May 2023, a bombshell report released by the House Judiciary Committee revealed that the illegal alien MS-13 Gang member had been released into the U.S. interior after arriving at the southern border in May 2022, posing as an Unaccompanied Alien Child (UAC) and claiming to be fleeing gang violence in his native El Salvador.
Years before his arrival, though, the illegal alien MS-13 Gang member was arrested in El Salvador for “illicit gang affiliation.” After arriving at the border, DHS officials failed to check the gang member for gang tattoos and did not call authorities in El Salvador to check if he had a criminal record or gang history.
The illegal alien’s affiliation with the MS-13 Gang was discovered after Hamilton’s murder by the Aberdeen Police Department, not DHS. To discover the affiliation, police officers simply called authorities in El Salvador.
Angel Mom Tammy Nobles is now suing DHS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with a $100 million wrongful death suit for the agencies’ releasing the illegal alien MS-13 Gang member into the U.S. only months before her daughter’s death.
Kayla Marie Hamilton (Photo via Aberdeen Police Department)
Kate Steinle
The case of Kate Steinle has become synonymous with the damage illegal immigration can often inflict on American families.
On July 1, 2015, 32-year-old Kate Steinle was shot and killed while walking along Pier 14 in San Fransisco, California with her father. The man who fired the gunshot that ultimately killed Steinle was a seven-time convicted felon and five-time deported illegal alien named Jose Garcia Zarate.
After shooting Steinle, Zarate was caught on surveillance footage fleeing the scene. Only days after the shooting, Zarate admitted in a television interview to shooting Steinle and said he had chosen San Francisco to reside because of the city’s fierce sanctuary city policy, as well as California’s sanctuary state law.
In April 2015, following an arrest for drug charges, Zarate was released by local police in San Francisco despite ICE agents requesting custody of him so they could deport him, again. Less than four months later, Zarate shot Steinle, causing her death.
On November 30, 2017, Zarate was found not guilty of murdering Steinle. Zarate is facing charges in Texas for re-entering the U.S. illegally numerous times.
Kate Steinle (Photos via Facebook)
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
