GRANJENO - Rio Grande Valley residents living near the Rio Grande said they got used to seeing more law enforcement patrolling their area.

Granjeno resident Carlos Cardoza said it’s part of life when living along the border.

“It’s peaceful, it’s quiet. Nobody bothers you. You can walk out in the evening; hear the coyotes in the background. It’s peaceful,” he said.

The city of Granjeno counts with a population of 330. Cardoza said it’s not the dangerous border town many think it is.

Although there is no local police department, the city is protected by a team of local law enforcement including Border Patrol and DPS.

“Mission PD drives though the back. It’s all kind of law enforcement. They’re all over,” Cardoza said. “If they’re not on their quads, four wheelers or their cycles, they’re on horse.”

Granjeno City Administrator Martin Villarreal said he believes the decline in criminal activity is due to the constant presence of Border Patrol and other agencies in the area.

“We have a lot of state troopers, a lot of undercover agents… So they go into the lots and wherever they see brush and stuff. They’ll hide and somebody during the day comes and picks them up and takes them away,” he said.

Villarreal said things used to be much worse.

“The border wall helps because it stopped a lot of people. It ends right there but it stopped a lot of people from going this way,” he said.

Other residents said they’re not afraid of the things they hear about the U.S.-Mexico border.

“If you try to pull it apart, you can either stick together. But it’s always fighting against each other. It’s just the way it is in Granjeno,” Villarreal said.

Both Villarreal and Cardoza said they don’t plan on leaving Granjeno no matter how many changes are made along the border.