An MS NOW news team required a rescue from eight Border Patrol agents after its SUV became stuck in the isolated Texas desert.
Antonia Hylton and her production crew were in the Big Bend region filming the premiere of “The Assignment” when their Jeep Wagoneer became immobilized after visiting the Alvarado Ranch.
“As the sun went down, our Jeep Wagoneer bottomed out in the desert,” Hylton said.
With darkness setting in, the crew turned to Border Patrol for assistance, Hylton said.
“Eight Border Patrol agents in four different trucks came out that night to rescue our crew,” she said.
“Three of their four vehicles got trapped in the process.”
The incident occurred while Hylton was covering resistance from some local property owners to government attempts to acquire private land through eminent domain for border-barrier construction.
One of those landowners, Yolanda Alvarado, comes from a family that has held property in the area for five generations. A proposed barrier could cut the family off from its Rio Grande water access or place a wall between the home and an ancestral cemetery.
MORE STORY: Report: Hegseth Urged Pilots Downed in Iran to Appear on 60 Minutes
Hylton’s report also examined the punishing terrain along this section of the US-Mexico border, where rugged mountains, the Rio Grande and vast stretches of desert complicate travel.
From the US side of the border, Hylton detailed the physical challenges confronting anyone attempting to enter Texas from Mexico.
“If you’re in Mexico and you want to come here to Texas, you would first have to scale that mountain range, which is thousands of feet high,” Hylton said.
After descending the mountain range and crossing the Rio Grande, she said, someone would still be “dozens and dozens of miles away from the nearest town center where you could get food, water, fuel, supplies.”
“Oh, and at many points of the year, you’d be doing that in 100 degree heat,” she added.
The Big Bend sector accounts for 1.3% of total border apprehensions, according to the MS NOW report.
The program also featured criticism of the wall from local officials, including Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, who spent 26 years as a Border Patrol agent.
The report also highlighted concerns ranging from private property rights to the potential impact of construction on tourism-dependent communities.
The Post has sought comment from MS NOW and Border Patrol.