Tom Schmerber: Maverick County Sheriff

EAGLE PASS, Texas — Tom Schmerber, an Eagle Pass native, has dedicated most of his life to the safety of his community. In 1982, he started work as a Border Patrol Agent. In 2013 he was sworn in as the newly elected Maverick County Sheriff and has now been re-elected in 2016, 2020 and 2024.

“We are in the frontlines,” Schmerber said. “We are not fighting, but we are in the frontlines taking care of all of these people that are coming through. Not all of them are coming for work, some are coming for drugs and so forth. We have to take care of the country. We are doing the best we can.”

In December of 2023 the railroad bridge, located near the port of entry number 2, in Eagle Pass was the forefront for thousands of migrants hoping to make the United States their new home and for an opportunity of a better life. Today numbers at that location have dwindled substantially, as Texas Governor Abbott has taken over the area with the Texas National Guard, razor wire and a floating wall of buoys down the Rio Grande. In Quemado, around 18 miles down the border, migrants are still crossing in smaller numbers, according to Schmerber.

If you drive around in Eagle Pass, Texas, you are bound to stumble upon the rust-colored wall that seemingly goes on for miles, until it abruptly ends near a private property. The wall itself is located 200 yards off the actual United States-Mexico Border and is full of gaps. So, when you hit the point where it ends, a United States citizen can legally walk around and behind it, though a border patrol officer might ask you what you are doing.

Clothing and personal items of migrants are scattered all across this area, likely because they were wet from crossing the Rio Grande, nearing the final part of their journey before reaching the United States. Before they hit the border wall, they were already on United States soil.

Many migrants have died while making their journey to the United States. Bodies have been found dehydrated in open fields and ranches or have been found in the Rio Grande from drowning. This past February, the decision was made to utilize the Texas State University system to assist Maverick County in identifying bodies found. Because across all the Del Rio Sector the number of reported migrant crossings has shrunk, it has resulted in fewer documented deaths of migrants along the border.  

When this issue first started, Schmerber was worried about the COVID-19 virus. So, when the state troopers asked if they could bring the migrants to his jails, he said no. He made a deal with them that any Migrants detained in Maverick County would be brought to Val Verde County where the migrants are processed and taken to jail there. Now the migrants that are detained in Maverik County go to court by Zoom with a defendant attorney. There are six defense attorneys and one of them is Schmber’s daughter and another is her fiancé.

“It is my priority to keep the county safe,” Schmerber said. “That is why I don’t want to be working immigration. I want to work my security for the county.”

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This project was created through a journalism class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies Department. This work was made possible through the support of MPC Endowment Ltd., the philanthropic affiliate of the Milwaukee Press Club.