The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on July 31 by the Immigration Reform Law Institute on behalf of the rancher, identified in the filing as Michael Vickers, along with Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe and Atascosa County, Texas.

It also lists DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Troy Miller, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Patrick J. Lechleitner, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur M. Jaddou as defendants.

"With full awareness of the likely consequences, Defendants have adopted unlawful policies that, working in concert, have frustrated Congress's purposes in the immigration laws," the lawsuit states.

According to the legal filing, Vickers—who is also a veterinarian—lives with his wife on a 1000-acre ranch in Brooks County, Texas.

The ranch is located about 70 miles north of the international border with Mexico, according to the lawsuit.

"Because of Defendants' policies, tens of thousands of illegal aliens have been released into the interior who thereafter travel cross country across the grasslands of Plaintiff's ranch," the filing reads.

Ranch Suffered 'Thousands of Dollars in Damage'

In so doing, the illegal immigrants "routinely cause thousands of dollars in damage to fences or gates as they pass through the ranch," and leave "tons of trash and litter," the lawsuit states.

In some cases, Vickers has found plastic bags and trash inside the stomachs of his cows, according to the lawsuit.

At other times, his cattle have escaped through cut fences and gates torn down by illegal immigrants, the filing alleges.

As a result, since early 2021, Vickers has incurred "more than $50,000 in fence and gate damages alone" and has been forced to spend thousands of dollars to mitigate environmental damage, according to the lawsuit.