"I'm crossing the bridge into Mexico. Someone had better arrest me quick"
"I am now in another country"
from the video
For years, authorities did not make a concerted effort to cut off the unmonitored crossings, like this bridge, that had linked Mexican and Texas border towns for generations. That changed after Sept. 11. Federal agents took out the rowboat ferry in the village of Lajitas; piled boulders to block a river-bottom road through a shallow stretch of the Rio Grande near Redford; began prosecuting anyone caught scrambling across a narrow dam that runs from bank to bank near Del Rio.
But Mr. West says the bridge is hardly a threat and calls it ridiculous for the government to target a flimsy string of two-by-fours when miles of border remain unsecured. So for now, he vows to stand "toe to toe and nose to nose" against any federal official who tries to shut down the crossing.
"We should be building bridges, not walls," Mr. Addington says. "I'm not taking it down."
Texas Rancher's Bridge to the Past Runs Afoul of the Border PatrolBe sure and watch the short video too.
