(DC Pundit) – A grim scene unfolded earlier this month near the Texas-Mexico border, where a suspected cartel improvised explosive device (IED) turned a routine day on the ranch into a deadly nightmare. Antonio Céspedes Saldierna, a 74-year-old rancher who straddled the line—literally—working land on both sides of the border, perished alongside his colleague Horacio Lopez Peña.
The Texas Department of Agriculture broke the news on Tuesday, painting a picture of a border region increasingly resembling a war zone. Saldierna was simply driving on his own property when he tripped the explosive, according to KRGV. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller called this “part of a growing threat posed by cartel activity along our southern border.” He’s not wrong—those of us who value law and order have been sounding the alarm for years while the left pretends open borders are just a big, happy hug-fest.
Miller’s advice to ranchers? Treat the border like a rattlesnake den. “I encourage everyone in the agricultural industry to stay vigilant, remain aware of their surroundings, and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement,” he said. Miller went further, suggesting people stick to main roads, avoid dirt paths, and limit travel to daylight hours. Solid counsel for anyone who’d rather not become a statistic in the cartels’ gruesome ledger.
This tragedy hits even harder when you hear from Saldierna’s son, Ramiro Céspedes, a U.S. Army veteran who knows a thing or two about dodging IEDs from his time overseas. He was wounded by one during deployment, only to come home and have his father meet the same fate—on American-adjacent soil, no less. “I consider this a terrorist attack because if I went to war to fight terrorists, and I’m seeing the same thing here to me – my personal opinion – it is a terrorist attack,” Ramiro told reporters. Hard to argue with a man who’s lived the nightmare twice over.
NEW: Texas border rancher k*lled by a suspected cartel IED at the Southern Border, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture.
74-year-old Rancher Antonio Céspedes Saldierna was driving on his ranch when the explosive detonated.
According to the New York Post, Saldierna… pic.twitter.com/PZyY8isbgJ
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 25, 2025
Border Patrol agents have been put on high alert, with warnings about heightened cartel threats and the Trump administration has taken a no-nonsense approach by slapping “foreign terrorist organization” labels on some of these outfits. Good move—call a spade a spade, or in this case, a terrorist a terrorist.
For conservatives who’ve long championed border security, this is Exhibit A in the case for a wall, razor wire, drones, military intervention, and whatever else it takes to keep the chaos at bay. Ranchers like Saldierna aren’t collateral damage in some abstract policy debate—they’re the backbone of our agricultural heartland.
A veteran’s father, killed by the same tactics he fought against, all because we can’t secure our own backyard. How much of the blame for this can we lay at the feet of the previous Biden-Harris administration? 100%.
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