Overgrown and most of the time impassable.
Trails that lead to and from the river are risky to travel—but it is something Starr County Deputies have to do on a daily basis.
"In the police academy they teach you how to jump over a six foot brick wall not barbed wire or thick brush,” Deputy Erasmo Rios explained. “It definitely plays a factor."
These deputies have to be smart when they start to chase an alleged drug or human smuggler.
They need to know where to step, where to duck, and when to stop.
"It's usually pitch black out here,” Deputy Rios said. “There is a lot of trial and error...if you don't know the trails during the day you certainly won't know them at night.
You can get hurt just running through the brush."
Recently deputies seized over 1,100 pounds of marijuana from one of the trails they frequently monitor.
The seizure was part of 12,000 pounds they seized in less than a week across the county.
Deputy Rios said it might seem like they have an increase in marijuana coming across—but that is not it at all.
He said they have more boots on the ground and can now be proactive versus reactive to this ongoing problem.
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