Editing Fort Hancock, Texas (section)

==History==
=== Camp Rice and Fort Hancock ===
Fort Hancock began as a military establishment named Camp Rice in 1882, along the [[San Antonio-El Paso Road]]. Camp Rice had formerly been located at [[Fort Quitman]], and had been established by troops of the 10th U.S. Cavalry "[[buffalo soldier]]s". Camp Rice did not grow after moving to this community, and rarely hosted more than 60 men. It was renamed Fort Hancock in 1886 after the death of General [[Winfield Scott Hancock]], a hero of the [[Battle of Gettysburg]]. The fort was damaged in a flood that year, but rebuilt. It was damaged again by fires in 1889, then abandoned in 1895.<ref>Handbook of Texas Online, Bruce J. Dinges, "Fort Hancock," accessed July 28, 2016, https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qbf24.</ref>  The remains of the old fort are located in a cotton field about {{convert|1.5|mi|km}} west of present-day Fort Hancock.

=== Town of Fort Hancock ===
A post office was established in 1886, with Albert Warren as postmaster. In 1887, a new railroad depot was built at Fort Hancock, and by 1890, a town had grown up around it and had a population of 200, a general store, a hotel, and a meat market.

By 1914, the population of the town had dropped to 50, though by 1940, it had increased to 500.<ref>{{cite web | last = Kohout | first = Martin Donell | title = Fort Hancock, TX | publisher = Handbook of Texas Online | url = https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hlf25}}</ref>

Federal troops were sent to Fort Hancock in 1918 to contain Mexican "bandits and outlaws" operating along the border. The bandits were suspected of being [[Mexico in World War I|directed by German agents]].<ref>{{cite web | title = Enemy Troops Mass on Border; Scent Enemy Plot | publisher = Middletown News-Signal | date = April 11, 1918 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3XtXAAAAIBAJ&dq=fort-hancock-texas&pg=5502%2C4211420}}</ref>

In 1995, a 13-year-old Ricardo Soto "trying to get toys for Christmas" fired three rifle shots at a semitrailer traveling along nearby [[Interstate 10 in Texas|Interstate 10]], hoping to blow out a tire so the truck would spill its load.  He instead hit the driver of a pickup truck, Alberto Tarango, fatally wounding him.<ref>{{cite news | title = Boy Accused of Firing Gun at Truck to Get Toys | work = [[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]] | date = Dec 27, 1995 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vW8aAAAAIBAJ&dq=fort-hancock-texas&pg=5140%2C979168}}</ref> The man succumbed to his injuries two days later.

Officials in Fort Hancock raised the speed limit to {{convert|80|mph}} in 2006 along their portion of Interstate 10, making it the highest speed limit in the country.<ref>{{cite web | last = Stirling | first = Larry | title = The 80th percentile | publisher = San Diego Source | date = Oct 18, 2006 | url = http://www.sddt.com/news/article.cfm?SourceCode=20061018tza#.UeXvzm3t74A}}</ref>

In 2006, [[CNN]] did a feature story about Fort Hancock, highlighting the close relationship between families living on the US and Mexican sides of the border. In the introduction, it described how "illegal immigrants risk their lives to cross the border, but not in Fort Hancock, Texas. A casual stroll across the foot bridge gets you in there." In an interview with Hudspeth County Deputy Sheriff Mike Doyal, he described the border as "just an open footway traffic for people coming across", and showed one of the four unguarded foot bridges that connect Fort Hancock to Mexico. Doyal spoke fondly of his Mexican neighbors, saying "those are not the people that we have a problem with, because I'm going to make it real clear that some of those people on the other side are some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet in your life." CNN described Fort Hancock as "a timeless place", adding, "for people who live here, the border barely exists. We found these Mexican cattle ranchers moving their herd along the river. A few times the cows [sic] would move into the U.S., the buckaroos rode across the dried-out river and collected their animals."<ref>{{cite web | title = Bridging the Border | publisher = [[CNN]] | date = May 17, 2006 | url = https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/lt/date/2006-05-17/segment/01}}</ref>

The quiescent community described by CNN in 2006 had changed significantly by 2010 when residents became increasingly concerned that violence associated with the [[Mexican Drug War|Mexican drug trade]] would spill across the border. In one instance, Deputy Sheriff Doyal announced to townspeople: "We just got word that the cartel has threatened to kill children in schools across the border unless parents paid 5000 pesos."<ref>{{cite web | last = Barnes | first = Ed | title = Texas Town on High Alert as Mexican Town Across Border Braces for Cartel Gun Battle | publisher = [[Fox News Channel]] | date = March 31, 2010 | url = https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-town-on-high-alert-as-mexican-town-across-border-braces-for-cartel-gun-battle/}}</ref> The county's sheriff, Arvin West, cautioned farmers to arm themselves.<ref>{{cite web | last = Burnett | first = John | title = Sheriff To Texas Border Town: 'Arm Yourselves' | publisher = [[NPR]] | date = April 9, 2010 | url = https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125737965}}</ref>

{{update section|date=October 2020}}

The newly erected [[Mexico–United States barrier]] is not a continuous wall, but rather a segmented one, at places no more than a fence.  This has led many unauthorized migrants to traverse the barrier on the Mexican side in search of a break; breaks are often in remote desert areas like Fort Hancock. This "funnel effect" has contributed to the deaths of thousands of unauthorized migrants, who are frequently found dead in the hot Texas sun.<ref>{{cite web | title = A Continued Humanitarian Crisis at the Border: Undocumented Border Crosser Deaths Recorded by the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, 1990-2012 | publisher = University of Arizona | year = 2013 | url = http://bmi.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/border_deaths_final_web.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130920111514/http://bmi.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/border_deaths_final_web.pdf | archive-date = 2013-09-20 }}</ref> Journalist Joseph J. Kolb interviewed local rancher Lupe Dempsey, who described how "on her doorstep was a 25-year-old man named Juan who, thirsty and disoriented, told how he'd become lost after illegally crossing the border and had wandered the desert in 110-degree heat." Kolb added, "His story was not unique to Dempsey and others in this West Texas town, where the 18-foot-high U.S. border fence ends abruptly, giving way to a few strands of barbed wire."<ref>{{cite web | last = Kolb | first = Joseph J. | title = Fort Hancock, Texas: Where a fence and hope for illegals ends | publisher = [[Fox News Channel]] | date = July 1, 2013 | url = https://www.foxnews.com/us/fort-hancock-texas-where-a-fence-and-hope-for-illegals-ends/}}</ref>