An MS NOW news crew had to be rescued by eight Border Patrol agents after its SUV became stranded in the remote Texas desert.
Antonia Hylton and her crew were reporting from Texas’ Big Bend region for the debut of “The Assignment” when their Jeep Wagoneer bottomed out shortly after a visit to the Alvarado Ranch.
“As the sun went down, our Jeep Wagoneer bottomed out in the desert,” Hylton said.
The stranded crew needed help from Border Patrol as darkness descended, according to Hylton.
“Eight Border Patrol agents in four different trucks came out that night to rescue our crew,” she said.
“Three of their four vehicles got trapped in the process.”
The rescue unfolded as Hylton was reporting on opposition among some local landowners to government efforts to obtain private property for border barriers through eminent domain.
Among them was Yolanda Alvarado, whose family has owned land in the region for five generations and could be cut off from its Rio Grande water source or have a border barrier separate its home from an ancestral cemetery.
Hylton’s report also focused on the formidable landscape along that stretch of the US-Mexico border, where mountains, the Rio Grande and miles of remote desert make travel difficult.
Standing on the US side of the border, Hylton described the obstacles facing someone trying to cross into Texas from Mexico.
“If you’re in Mexico and you want to come here to Texas, you would first have to scale that mountain range, which is thousands of feet high,” Hylton said.
After descending the mountain range and crossing the Rio Grande, she said, someone would still be “dozens and dozens of miles away from the nearest town center where you could get food, water, fuel, supplies.”
“Oh, and at many points of the year, you’d be doing that in 100 degree heat,” she added.
The Big Bend sector accounts for 1.3% of total border apprehensions, according to the MS NOW report.
The program also featured criticism of the wall from local officials, including Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, who spent 26 years as a Border Patrol agent.
The report also highlighted concerns ranging from private property rights to the potential impact of construction on tourism-dependent communities.
The Post has sought comment from MS NOW and Border Patrol.
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