Grim Reality At Border: Rancher Finds 17 Dead Immigrants And ‘Rape Trees’

Arizona rancher, John Ladd, owns property that stretches 10.5 miles along the Southern Border.

With 16,000 sprawling acres right near Mexico, it’s bound to see some crossings.

Ladd tells a more gruesome tale than just crossings.

Over 17 dead he’s seen over the years, and most recently his 8 year old grandson found 2 dead.

In addition to the corpses, on his property he found a rape tree.

A dark place where guides hang garments of their victims.

These types of trees have also been found all along the border.

A testament to the savage and criminal behavior that invades our lands.

Fourth-Generation Arizona Rancher Says He Has Found 17 Dead Bodies, Rape Trees, Illegal Aliens Crawling on His Property (VIDEO) via @gatewaypundit https://t.co/lIEYCtjzig

— The Gateway Pundit (@gatewaypundit) March 2, 2024

Daily Mail reports:

John Ladd’s phone is an archive of life on a ranch beside the Arizona border with Mexico.

He scrolls past photographs of handsome Red Angus and cross-bred Hereford-Brahman cattle, picture after picture of Donald Trump‘s 30ft border wall that spans about six-and-a-half miles of his land. Then he stops at an image of a tree.

‘That’s a rape tree,’ he said, pointing out the women’s clothes thrown into the thorny branches.

‘Almost all the women who come across get raped by their guides, who then they throw their underwear in the trees.’

The trees have been spotted up and down the border. Academics talk of them as warnings or trophies in the brutal symbolism of violent gangs.

Ladd, 68, has been a rancher all of his life. In the past 30 years he has learned about such savage displays, as well as the patterns of migrants who cross the border and the cartels who control turf on the other side.

His 16,000  acres lie in the busiest part of the entire border. Border Patrol agents in the Tucson sector recorded 250,000 apprehensions in just the first four months of the fiscal year — almost a 200 percent increase on last year.

His family has kept cattle here for four generations or 127 years.

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These days he keeps count of the dead bodies he has found on his land — 17 in total (not counting those found on the 60ft strip of federal land at the border). They are migrants who succumbed to the desert heat in summer or the cold in winter or whose hearts gave out or the victims of violence.

‘They’re not seeking asylum,’ he told DailyMail.com at the end of a day sorting calves for market. His shirt was spattered with blood from a dehorning operation.

‘They’re military age males in camouflage, Balaclavas and a cell phone. They don’t want to get caught.’

While migrants in other spots hand themselves in for processing, hidden cameras operated by the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office show images of arrivals crossing the Ladd ranch headed for the highway.

They use kneepads and travel at times on all fours to evade detection. Crawling through the brush they often show up on imaging devices as animals.

‘We’re not scared,’ added Ladd. ‘But we know what we’re going to do if we’re confronted, you know, kids, grandkids, wives, everybody.’

His weapon of choice is a Smith and Wesson six-shooter. ‘But I carry a Glock because it has more bullets,’ he said.

Hanging over ranches in this part of the world is the case of George Kell. He is due to go on trail next month charged with the second-degree murder of Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, who entered the country illegal and died on Kelly’s property.

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The border rancher has pleaded not guilty and says he only fired warning shots.

State Republicans are pushing to allow greater protections for ranchers defending themselves on their own land.

Their bill proposes a slight change in wording to extend existing ‘Castle Doctrine’ that allows homeowners to use deadly force against intruders if they believe their life is in danger. The change would afford similar rights to landowners against trespassers.

Rep. Justin Heap recently told a state House Judiciary Committee hearing that it was designed to fix a loophole.

‘If a farmer owns 10,000 acres of farmland, his home may be a half a mile away from where he is, and if he sees someone on his land, can he approach them and trespass them from his property?’ he said, according to AZ Central.

Ladd said he did not know much about the bill.

‘I’m in favour of having American citizens and private property owners have more control over their destiny,’ he said. ‘That’s the bottom line.’

The land on the other side of the wall is controlled by the Sinaloa cartel, viewed by the American intelligence community as the most powerful and dangerous.

Ladd has seen the business model change in front of his eyes. The human smugglers were once do-it-yourselfers, or mom-and-pop outfits, charging a few dollars to cross the border.

Now the going rate is $6000.

NEW: Arizona rancher John Ladd has found 17 dead bodies on his land which spans 10.5 miles along the U.S. southern border.

Where are all of the crocodile tears from @AOC and the Democrats?

Unfortunately, it gets worse. Ladd has a "r*pe tree" on his property where 'guides'… https://t.co/0aHUUyMldv

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 2, 2024

It’s such a sad and needlessly tragic tale.

That border needs to be locked down!

And here’s an investigative journalist, reporting from the border.

This guy catches numerous crossings and estimates out how much the cartel are making in real time as the immigrants pour in:

I CAUGHT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CROSSING THE US BORDER:
I along with @JamesOKeefeIII and @stclairashley investigated the migrant crisis in the state of Arizona. Thousands of migrants are entering into the USA illegally. Behind each migrant crossing someone is making thousands of $$$… pic.twitter.com/TJZiIhrGet

— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) February 26, 2024