For Laura Allen and her family, illegal aliens crossing through their ranch is one of the “unique aspects” of living on the border, she said. The illegal aliens who cross through her ranch are “criminals, they've got criminal histories, they're not good people, and they are to be feared,” said Allen, who is not related to this reporter. The Allen ranch, located about 170 miles west of San Antonio in Val Verde County, has been in the family for over 100 years.  “It was bought in 1920 by [my husband’s] great-grandfather and the family has been actively ranching it all that time,” Allen, 54, said.  Allen, the former judge of Val Verde County, says that over the years, her husband's family has watched the situation with illegal immigration change. “Years ago, when my mother-in-law and my father-in-law built their home out here, which was in the ’50s, it was not uncommon for [illegal aliens] to come up to the house and be looking for work or looking for a meal or something like that,” Allen said. “Generally, they didn't have issues. They didn't have problems with anybody.” “Nowadays, the people that we see crossing, they don't want to come anywhere near us. They don't want to be seen, they don't want to be detected. We catch them on game cameras with big, huge backpacks that you could almost carry a person in, which we're sure are drugs,” she said, adding: “They come through in the cover of darkness and they want to get out undetected.” Allen joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to explain the realities of life on the southern border. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.