West
Vets group patching border fence pledges vigilance amid Trump success: 'There are still gaps'
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — A group of U.S. military veterans that formed to respond to the crisis at the southern border has continued its work, even as President Donald Trump has largely followed through on promises to stem the flow of illegal crossings.
“As a country, we were going quietly into the night,” Kate Monroe, a Marine Corps veteran who became the founder of Border Vets, a group of U.S. military veterans who have given their own time and money to patch up holes in the border barrier in Southern California, told Fox News Digital. “It’s not as difficult to secure the nation as people might think.”
The comments come as the group that Monroe founded, Border Vets, has continued its work to patch up potential weak points on the U.S. border with Mexico in Southern California.
On a rainy and uncharacteristically cold day in San Diego County, Monroe invited Fox News Digital to see the volunteer organization’s continuing work. A group of nearly a dozen U.S. military veterans tagged along for the ride, returning to the infamous “San Judas Break,” a gap in the border wall that at its height was allowing more than 3,000 illegal migrants to spill into the U.S. on a weekly basis.
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Border Vets members patched a hole in the barrier at the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego County, Calif., on March 10, 2025. (Michael Lee/Fox News Digital)
At issue is a gap in the barrier where the fencing erected by the U.S. government meets a hilly rock formation, leaving a tiny pathway into the country for thousands of migrants who knew where to look. While members of the Border Vets patched the hole with razor wire last year, the group returned to the spot to make improvements to the barrier and extend it further up the hill in an attempt to dissuade illegal crossings.
But things have changed at this spot since the Border Vets initially volunteered their own time and money to patch the hole, with illegal crossings now coming to a near standstill in the area since Trump took office in January.
The Mexican Army has also begun to occupy the area, standing up a makeshift encampment on the other side of the border just a couple of feet from where the Border Vets worked.
Border Vets members put up razor wire to patch a hole in the barrier at the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego County, Calif., on March 10, 2025. (Michael Lee/Fox News Digital)
The Mexican government’s cooperation and Trump’s reentry into the White House have had a profound impact on crossing numbers, with February data showing that just 8,300 people attempted to illegally cross the border last month, the lowest mark recorded since fiscal 2000.
Agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have also had far fewer encounters with illegal migrants compared to the same time period in 2023 and 2024, recording just 30,000 encounters in February 2025 compared to more than 130,000 during the same time period in 2023 and 2024.
Border Vets members put up razor wire to patch a hole in the barrier at the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego County, Calif., on March 10, 2025. (Michael Lee/Fox News Digital)
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Nevertheless, members of the Border Vets have continued their volunteer work, noting that some migrants have been determined enough to find a way through.
“Things are getting better down at the border,” one Marine veteran who volunteers for Border Vets told Fox News Digital, noting that there are still gaps, not only figuratively, but literal gaps in the border.
“You can see on the footpath that people are just walking through,” he added.
The group insists they have had little trouble with CBP agents patrolling the area, arguing that many have welcomed the assistance, especially during the height of illegal crossings seen in the previous few years. An agent who anonymously spoke to Fox News Digital on Tuesday struck a similar tone, noting that the agency does not stop the group from erecting the makeshift barriers.
In one area of San Diego County near Jacumba Hot Springs, a makeshift shelter built out of wood pallets and tarp, a site that once hosted hundreds of migrants as they waited to make asylum claims to border agents, stood empty.
A makeshift shelter that once housed migrants stands empty amid President Donald Trump’s border crackdown. (Michael Lee/Fox News Digital)
A makeshift shelter that once housed migrants stands empty amid President Donald Trump’s border crackdown. (Michael Lee/Fox News Digital)
In other areas of San Diego County’s border with Mexico on Tuesday, members checked on their patchwork barriers while noting the stark difference between now and just a few short months ago.
“It’s a crazy thing,” Monroe said. “There used to be hundreds of people crossing every time I came, now not one. And it’s not because of the rain, they were coming rain or shine … the difference has just been absolutely amazing.”
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Members of the Border Vets welcomed the change, though they plan to stay vigilant to prevent the situation from returning to the point of crisis it had reached over the last few years.
“An open border policy that we’ve dealt with for the last four years has been nothing but a detriment to the country,” a Navy veteran member of Border Vets told Fox News Digital. “We’re all struggling, we’re all being dealt a bad hand, and it just doesn’t send the right message to have our borders wide open when every other nation has closed-border policies.”
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MISSOULA, Mont. — The Missoula County Public Schools Board of Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday night to appoint London Meservy to a vacant trustee seat previously held by former Chairwoman Wilena Old Person.
Board Chairwoman Arlee Walker Andrews said this comes during a period of high turnover for the board, which she said has seen a rotation of 19 different faces over the past two years.
Meservy, a parent of four students across the district, will be sworn in Friday and hold the seat until the May election. He told the board he plans to run for the position in the spring.
“I was sad to see the former chairperson go but excited for the opportunity,” Meservy said. “I want to help continue the upward trajectory of the Missoula School District.”
The board also heard an update from the Facilities Planning Committee, part of an ongoing review of district-owned properties. The committee’s work builds on months of public engagement that included building tours, surveys and meetings with more than 200 community members and partners such as the City of Missoula and the University of Montana.
Trustee Jenny Walsh said the district’s goal is to manage its facilities responsibly without overburdening taxpayers.
“What we’re really doing is reorganizing our public assets to steward them better for the public. We’re not giving up any public assets,” she said. “I think there’s a bit of public perception that we’re like after money, but really we’re just trying to be really responsible stewards for our taxpayers, which are our teachers and our parents and our families.”
Superintendent Micah Hill clarified that any proceeds from property sales would go into district funds with flexible spending authority. Those dollars are free to be expended in any way the board sees fit, he said.
The next MCPS board meeting is on January 27.
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — One person was found dead after crews extinguished a brush fire that broke out and spread to a home in Henderson Wednesday morning, according to the fire chief.
Flames could be seen pouring out of the Whitney Mesa area near Sunset Road and Arroyo Grande Boulevard, just west of Stephanie Street.
Firefighters received a report about an outside fire around 4:30 a.m., Henderson Fire Chief Scott Vivier told reporters. By the time crews arrived, the fire had grown to 2-3 acres, damaged one home and spread to the landscaping of a second home.
“Because the call occurred early in the morning, most residents were asleep, and that’s what allowed the fire to grow to the size before it was recognized,” the chief said. “Residents initially woke up seeing it, and they started to self-evacuate.”
Two alarms were called for the response, according to Vivier. Crews contained the fire to the area of origin and extinguished it with no further damage. Clark County and Bureau of Land Management firefighters provided assistance.
During a primary search of the area, authorities found one person dead. The cause of death is unknown, and Henderson Police are investigating.
About 50 residents in the neighborhood were asked to evacuate because of the heavy smoke, Vivier said. They have since been allowed to return to their homes. He added that the Henderson Fire Department has preexisting plans for evacuating residents in response to any fires in the Whitney Mesa area.
The cause of the fire is unknown at this time, the chief said, and remains under investigation as well. Crews were expected to remain on scene throughout the day to clean up the space and make sure there were no flare-ups. There was no estimate on when Whitney Mesa Park could reopen to the public.
The Bureau of Land Management has been requested to provide assistance. Vivier said their expertise would be used to remove dangerous brush and trees that had been damaged in the fire.
Green Valley High School is also located nearby, off Arroyo Grande and Warm Springs Road. A Clark County School District spokesperson said the school began classes at their normal start times.
The Whitney Mesa area last suffered a significant brush fire in 2016, when amateur fireworks from a Fourth of July celebration in the Nature Preserve sparked large flames. No injuries were reported in that incident.
New Mexico
A 900K-acre land sale just made LA Rams owner Stan Kroenke the nation’s largest private landowner
The purchase of a New Mexico ranch nearing 1 million acres tipped the scales for Stan Kroenke, who is now the largest private landowner in America.
Kroenke, 78, topped Land Report’s annual list of the country’s 100 largest landowners, leading a pack of billionaires eager to beef up their rural portfolios.
Kroenke is worth an estimated $26.8 billion, according to Bloomberg, largely thanks to his ownership of sport franchises like the Los Angeles Rams, the Denver Nuggets and the UK’s Arsenal Football Club — as well as several of the teams’ sports arenas.
Kroenke, a Missouri native, is married to Walmart heiress Ann Walton Kroenke.
Kroenke recently acquired more than 937,000 acres of noncontiguous New Mexico ranchland, rounding out his total land holdings to more than 2.7 million acres across the American West and Canada.
Land Report confirmed the December deal, which spans four New Mexico counties. The off-market transaction is the largest single land purchase in the US since 2011.
The price of Kroenke’s New Mexico purchase remains under wraps, but Land Report estimated the former value of his ranch holdings at $3.9 billion.
Kroenke made headlines in 2016 when he snapped up Texas’ historic Waggoner Ranch — the 535,000-acre property is largest piece of unbroken ranchland in the Lone Star State. Other acquisitions include massive ranches in Montana and Nevada.
In addition to rolling rural plains, Kroenke owns an estimated 60 million square feet of commercial holdings, the New York Times reported, including sports venues in California and Denver.
The investor’s busy two decades of ranch acquisitions has set him far above other high-profile billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.
Bezos’ holdings ranked 21st in Land Report’s report, spanning close to half a million acres largely concentrated in Texas. Gates trailed behind in 44th place, whose prolific farmland purchases span roughly 275,000 acres.
An uptick in rural land grabs among billionaires over the past decade was hastened along in recent years by the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic and the so-called “Yellowstone Effect.”
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