On guard in his front yard

Southmost area resident has fashioned a one-man border patrol

By Sara Ines Calderon

The Brownsville Herald

October 2, 2005 Rusty Monsees lives in Southmost, on the road named after his family.

He grew up there, spent his childhood getting sunburned on the property by the river while hunting and getting into trouble.

Looking back, he figures hes been fighting illegal immigration, on his own terms for 25 years.

This has always been a crossing point, Monsees said from his red pickup truck, yards from the Mexican border. Theres a hard bottom on this part of the river.

The Border Patrol leases parts of his property to place infrared cameras and lights mounted on a tall structure as a deterrent to illegal immigration.

Im just watching the wets run, Monsees said.

Hes handcuffed people to cars while waiting for the authorities arrival. Hes been threatened with death, shot at, stabbed, his house was shot and his daughters lives threatened, he said and blames his anti-illegal immigration activism.

He said he used to drive around with loudspeakers on the back of his truck Let em know Im coming, he said and yell to people, Its the Fresh Air Taxi Service.

Monsees tells of the time someone put a bounty on his head and circulated the poster in Mexico.

No one ever collected.

But, for the better part of 25 years, if you looked strange and funny, I would check you out, he said.

Im getting too old and crazy to go out there now.

While Monsees said he has had contact with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a volunteer border watch group, he doesnt think it would be wise for the group to come to Brownsville.

Good intentions or not, it can be dangerous because they do not know who they are dealing with, he said.

Monsees has cooperated with the Border Patrol since he was a young child and even owes his life to them, he said.

It was a Border Patrol agent that delivered life-saving medicine to him here during a hurricane when he was a child.

He agrees that Texas is a whole different ballgame from Arizona, where the Minutemen originated. If they come and if they dont come, Monsees and his red pickup truck will be on the lookout.

We were not anything at all like the Minutemen, he said of his own anti-illegal immigration campaigns. We were just here.

sicalderon@brownsvilleherald.com