Naco, Ariz. – John Ladd sleeps better knowing that Donald Trump is in the White House.
Not only in some figurative sense. When Ladd places his head in his ranch home to a mile and a quarter of the border between the United States and Mexico, he no longer cares about hundreds of intruders per day, trampling his pastures, tearing the fences or releasing his cattle.
He does not worry as much as once about stumbling with a corpse, 18 have appeared over the years, or finding a migrant sitting in his living room, which happened once in 2002.
Views of the 47th President, from scratch
“The surprising thing is that as soon as Donald Trump was chosen, the border issue of the illegal entrances that arrive in the United States has stopped dramatically,” said Ladd, 69, exaggerating things a bit. “And we are delighted with that.”
Back in the White House for just over a month, Trump has quickly and ruthlessly fulfilled his promise to turn to the United States, dismissing mass government workers, eliminating entire agencies and reducing certain programs to the core.
The promised benefit, a thinner federal government, less expensive and more efficient, is purely theoretical at this stage.
But a place where Trump's return has felt tangibly, and is very welcome, is here in the southeast corner of Arizona, where the United States and Mexico feel disturbing side by side. After growing at record levels under President Biden, illegal border crossings began to fall during the last months of his mandate, a trend that has accelerated since Trump returned to the Oval office.
The Rancho of 16,400 Acres de Ladd, which has been in the family since the 1890s, extends by 10½ miles along the border. It is three miles from there for state route 92, a walk through mequite and grasslands, flood plains and furrows that serve as a rough road carved towards the two -lane Blacktop and the interior that is beyond.
At its peak, Ladd said, up to 700 migrants a day passed through his property. That number fell dramatically during the Trump's first term, then firing again during the Biden administration, despite the hidden cameras, the sensors detected by the movement and installation of high steel posts, the border wall, the border wall, as is known, through the southern length of its ranch. Today, under Trump, the daily crosses have fallen to about 10 or so, said Ladd, and the border patrol agents tell him that they have bored.
A border patrol camera is hidden in a mosque bush at the Ladd ranch.
(Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times)
He paused next to the wall, the oxide floor at his feet spread around miles around, his sight between the mountains of San José to the south and a majestic limestone cliff to the north. The stillness was so deep that it was almost a physical presence.
“If we did not have to deal with the border,” said Ladd, “there is no finer life.”
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In a large carpet carpeted with hay and cow empanadas, Ladd raised two metal chairs, taking care of brushing one for his guest. Then he talked about the last decades observing from the front line while the contradictory approach of the nation was developed to random immigration.
For a long time, Ladd said, he started every day with an inventory to see if something was stolen, a vehicle, agricultural equipment). He checked to see if someone was hiding under a car, in a truck bed, in one of several units, “always looking over the shoulder,” before helping to dispute any cow wandering where they should not.
Its meat collection operation involves rotating cattle through nine closed pastures, from birth to the market. Ladd said that half of each day was dedicated to repairing a spike wire fence that was thrown or cut over night. He sank a small fortune in the repairs, Ladd said, before finally giving up. He also spent a lot of money transporting garbage; Approximately 20 tons over the years.
Most people, Ladd said, have no idea what it is like to live on the border, under a constant siege. It is not just the fear of the posters involved in human smuggling. Something as small as a door left open could wreak havoc, and bring considerable responsibility, if Ladd's cattle wandered towards traffic. “As long as they don't have illegal in their rear courtyards,” he said, “people don't care.”
Outside the corral, a red angus looked before looming to use a tractor for a scratch post.
The Rancho of 16,400 Acres de Ladd has been in his family since 1896.
(Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times)
When it comes to the country's dysfunctional immigration system, Ladd continued, there is a lot of guilt and hypocrisy for everyone. (He confesses some of the latter).
Clinton, Obama, the bushes, he said, taking out the past presidents, all promised to solve the problem. None did. Even Ronald Reagan, Ladd's favorite president of all time, disappointed. In any case, he said, Reagan worsened things by signing a 1986 law that grants amnesty to about 3 million people who illegally came to the United States. Then he could not deliver the border application he promised, or the offensive against employers who hired undocumented workers.
“It's a scam,” Ladd said, differentiating between what politicians say and what they do. “Republicans want cheap labor. Democrats want cheap votes. Americans want cheap tomatoes. “
And who can blame them, given how accustomed America has grown up to the fruits of an undocumented low -cost workforce?
A pair of “carpet shoes” abandoned at the foot of the edge wall. Some migrants use them crossing in the US. To avoid leaving clues.
(Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times)
Ladd said that one of his children, who grew up in the ranch and now lives in Phoenix, recently needed a palm cut. It was three landscapers, all Americans, who wanted between $ 600 and $ 1,000 for work. He illegally hired someone, presumably in the country, who agreed to do so for $ 100.
“He said: 'Dad, I have to' confess,” Ladd said with a small laugh. “He said: 'What would you have done?' I thought: 'Demons, I would probably have hired the boy too.' “
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Ladd piloted his truck with dust hairpad along the edge wall, discussing each fencing stage as if it were a ring of trees that marked a different political era.
The 13 -foot high barrier built under Clinton, which replaced a chain rental fence that separated the United States and Mexico. The 18 -foot locking block installed under Obama. And, finally, overcome them all, the 30 -foot pillars placed under Trump, which completed the wall through Ladd's property.
He pointed out where the smuggers had displaced openings large enough to drag and pointed out the painted spray notation when those gaps were closed. In some places, far from surveillance cameras, there were up to half a dozen repairs.
The difference Trump has made the fight against illegal immigration, Ladd suggested, is in tone (hard, threatening and little cozy under any circumstance, and policies such as “remain in Mexico”, which forced migrants to seek asylum to remain in that country while their cases were processed. That has shown a dissuasive element greater than any physical blockade.
The border wall, which has been built under several presidents, runs the southern length of the Ladd ranch.
(Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times)
Ladd does not agree with each and every one of Trump's words or acts, but he does it most of the time. “I admire him,” said Ladd, “because he says things that no one will say. I admire him for having the strength to say it.”
And when the president pronounces obvious falsehoods, as to affirm that Ukraine was responsible for the invasion of Russia? “I don't like Russia, but I agree that Trump is going to Putin to end the war,” said Ladd, adding a blow to the leader of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Or when Trump said that Mexico would pay for the border wall, which has not happened and was never remotely plausible? “I don't literally carry it,” said Ladd, while overcoming the steel struts that reached a cobalt blue sky. “Sometimes I don't think it takes it seriously.”
It remains to be seen if the drastic fall at illegal border crossings will continue. It is not unusual for traffic to fall at this time of year. And some migrants may simply be waiting for how Trump's immigration policies develop on Trump's immigration policies.
But for now, Ladd enjoys more peace of mind of what he has had in years. And Trump is ranked just behind Reagan as his favorite president of all time.
