Arizona rancher says MS-13 gang members came to his door
Arizona rancher Jim Chilton sounds the alarm about drug cartels trafficking drugs through his property.
An Arizona rancher is urging officials to continue building a border wall after MS-13 gang members showed up at his front door when his wife was home.
Jim Chilton joined "Fox & Friends" Monday to discuss how the border crisis has directly impacted his ranch and urged the Biden administration and Congress to secure the southern border.
"The first thing you have to do is secure the border, finish the wall."
Chilton told Steve Doocy that drug traffickers have "taken over" the trails leading to his ranch.
"It's everybody now coming through is in camouflage carpet shoes with cartel scouts on our mountains guiding them through. … They're never seen by people. They just move through the country. About 20% are packing drugs, according to an intelligence officer of the Border Patrol in our ranch area," he explained.
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Chilton said he's seen a significant increase in drug smugglers — sometimes toting guns — crossing his land and has found the bodies of migrants who died on his property trying to make it into the U.S.
"We've been here 35 years now, and it's a wonderful ranch, except we are very ticked off that all these drug packers are coming to my ranch to poison our American people," the owner of Chilton Ranch, told Fox News Digital last week.
He said MS-13 gang members showed up on his property while his wife was home, asking if they could use a phone. Chilton said his wife refused, but gave the group food.
"She went and made lunches for them. It was kinda scary. That's just life on the border."
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Despite the crisis, Chilton told Doocy he plans to stay.
"I am a fifth-generation rancher, and I'm tough. I am going to stay on the ranch. We have a family cemetery, and I'll be on top of the ground or below the ground. Many of our neighbors have left. They couldn't take the pressure."
Chilton detailed two break-ins that occurred at his home, including one where intruders stole guns, cameras and computers.
"It was outrageous, just outrageous. … We see the humanitarian crisis," Chilton said. "The real truth is a wall can save lives."
He said he's installed drinking fountains on the property so that migrants will not come to the house looking for water.
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Nearly 4 million migrants have crossed into the U.S. since Biden took office, according to CBP. Close to 1 million of those migrants have traveled through Arizona.
Chilton blames the influx on the unfinished border wall that Biden halted in 2021.
"Congress needs to appropriate the money to secure the border," Chilton said. "If there was a wall, people wouldn’t be losing their lives on my ranch and other ranches."
Fox News' Megan Myers contributed to this report
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