Fort Hancock is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hudspeth County, Texas, United States.

Fort Hancock began as a military establishment named Camp Rice in 1882, along the San Antonio-El Paso Road.

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.

[6] 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, hoping to blow out a tire so the truck would spill its load.

[8] 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 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.

CNN described Fort Hancock as "a timeless place", adding, "for people who live here, the border barely exists.

"[9] 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 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.

This "funnel effect" has contributed to the deaths of thousands of unauthorized migrants, who are frequently found dead in the hot Texas sun.

[12] 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.

"[13] The Fort Hancock CDP is in southwestern Hudspeth County, bordered to the southwest by the Rio Grande and to the northeast by Interstate 10, with access from exits 68, 72, and 78.