On Alert: Citizens keeping an eye out in Granjeno amid increased bustle

GRANJENO - "Raven 7. Raven 7. ...

"Napo, you there, man?"

There's static, then a crackling voice responds in Spanish over the little handheld radio.

He's probably out of range. The walkie-talkies don't have the strongest signals.

The radio goes back on the table on the porch, where it's often joined by binoculars for watching the passing road and neighbors' yards for any threats to peace and order.

AN INVASION

Things have been changing here in Granjeno, a hamlet on the U.S. border with Mexico.

Napoleon Garza swears he could once identify every car that came into town, could tell whether it was suspicious or whether it belonged there.

Now a small army of pickup trucks and construction vehicles comes down Shary Road and along the levee into town each day, bringing supplies to the border wall project under way just over the levee.

Garza is watching each one a lot more closely.

Granjeno residents, frustrated with what they say is a crime wave in their town just south of Mission, have started a neighborhood watch to monitor what they view as an increase in the number and frequency of incursions by outsiders.

Residents say illegal immigrants have always come through town, but now border-crossing bandits are burglarizing homes, often in broad daylight.

Burglaries have occurred here before, but they were "infrequent" and on the city's outskirts, many Granjeno residents said.

"Now it seems like they are getting far more bold, (operating) in broad daylight (and) breaking doors," 37-year-old Rafael Garza said.

The burglars, he said, have been taking heavy items like televisions and hiding them in nearby brush.

The city does not have a police department and relies on patrols by the Hidalgo County sheriff and the local constable. The U.S. Border Patrol is a frequent visitor.

AN UPTICK

There have been six burglaries reported in Granjeno in the last month and a half, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said.

"Obviously, we had a burglary spree," he said.

In many cases, the sheriff said, the homeowners were on vacation and his office still has no suspects.

Residents are adamant illegal immigrants are the culprits. But law enforcement officials said the items reported missing - televisions, lawnmowers, air conditioners and jewelry - don't fit the usual pattern followed by border-crossers.

Illegal immigrants typically take clothing and canned food if they break into a home, Treviño said, adding he could not say at this point whether the burglars are legal or illegal immigrants.

Lt. Martin Garza, a Mission police spokesman, said burglaries by juveniles usually increase during the summer when students are out of school and parents are at work.

PLAYING DEFENSE

On a recent evening, a small corps of residents gathered in City Hall to organize the existing small-town network of watchful eyes and ears into a protection force.

Residents' tales already indicate they have become more assertive and confrontational with interlopers of all kinds.

City administrative assistant Janie Garza said her radio buzzed early Wednesday morning with a request that she wake up and call the Border Patrol. A few guys had an illegal immigrant surrounded.

"Ten-four," she said, laughing as she used common police code for "OK."

The network includes the young and the aged, workers and retirees alike.

Laura Garcia spends a lot of time on her porch, so she gets a radio.

Erasmo Garza, a retiree with a stiff leg, is a former constable's deputy and still has his gun and bullet-proof vest, he said. He also still has his peace officer's license.

"If somebody calls me and says, ‘Come help us,' of course I'll take my gun," Garza said.

The group adopts code names, so organizers can't be easily identified, and hands out lists with the names and telephone numbers of the "block captains."

They have compiled a list of frequently spotted suspicious cars, including a green Chevrolet Camaro.

The process of organizing the group has made everyone vigilant to the point of nervousness. Radio traffic is frequent.

Mayor Vicente Garza Jr. said he keeps waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of a dog barking or even just the wind.

Arcadio Anzaldua said he used to look the other way when cars he didn't recognize stopped at the local church and picked up people he didn't know. But last week he confronted a man in a grey sedan.

The car fled without its intended passengers.

"The people are tired of getting ripped off," Anzaldua said he told the three immigrant women who had been waiting for the car. Although he never worried about illegal immigrants before, "it becomes my business when they violate people's privacy."

WANTING THE WALL

Although many of the community watch members denounce the border wall, there is a quiet minority in town.

At least a dozen residents said the burglaries have made them more vocal in their support for the barrier being constructed right behind their homes.

The city grabbed national media attention during the past year as its residents protested the project, which at one time threatened to cost them their land. The roughly 485 residents in the community seem to have reluctantly accepted the project now that it has been pushed back to federal property along the levee behind their homes.

Several residents said it can be intimidating to express their support around town for the 1.76-mile concrete wall that is supposed to deter illegal immigration when so many people are adamantly against it. But for the most part, they said, everyone respects the differing opinions.

Sara Perkins covers Mission, western Hidalgo County, Starr County and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4472. Jackie Leatherman covers Hidalgo County government and general assignments at The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4424.