Texas troopers, soldiers continue to arrest violent felons, gang members, smugglers

Texas Department of Public Safety officers and National Guard soldiers working in Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star, continue to apprehend violent criminals and fortify barriers.

One recent major arrest was of a previously deported felon and confirmed Mexican Mafia gang member who illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico and was caught in Kinney County.

Troopers arrested two illegal border crossers, both Mexican nationals, after they were trespassing on private property and attempted to evade capture. One, Nery Flores Flores, who was covered in tattoos, is a confirmed Mexican Mafia gang member who was previously deported. Flores, an aggravated felon, was wanted on an immigration violation. He previously served 16 years in prison for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was deported to Mexico in 2020.

The Mexican Mafia is a Mexican American prison gang based in central California with operations in roughly a dozen states.

Flores and another Mexican national accompanying him were charged with criminal trespass and evading arrest, DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez said.

After their arrest, Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith filed a motion to increase each of their bonds to $200,000 cash.

“They won’t likely see the outside of their jail cell anytime soon,” Smith said. “After they serve their time, they will be greeted by [President-elect Donald Trump’s border czar] Tom Homan and his ICE agents to be prosecuted for illegal re-entry. This is what border security should look like.”

In La Salle County, DPS troopers interdicted a smuggling event on Interstate 35. The alleged smuggler, an El Salvadoran man in the country illegally, led troopers on a high-speed pursuit at night. DPS troopers deployed a tire deflation device to eventually stop him. Inside the vehicle were 10 people being smuggled into the country, after they’d already illegally crossed the border.

Troopers arrested him and charged him with ten counts of smuggling of persons with a firearm, evading arrest, theft of a firearm and possession of controlled substances. All 10 illegal border crossers, citizens of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, were referred to Border Patrol.

Texas National Guard soldiers also continue to fortify areas of the border by erecting additional concertina wire fencing and Texas’ border wall.

In one area of the border, riverine boat teams patrolled the Rio Grande River from Roma to Brownsville.

“This week, while conducting a river assessment, we noticed a potential (cartel-associated) drop-off location used for illegal trafficking,” Texas National Guard Staff Sergeant Isais Mayen said. “To prevent future use of this location, we alerted our law enforcement partners of the activity.”

In Eagle Pass, National Guard soldiers continued to erect anti-climb barriers.

“Operation Lone Star is important to me because I was born and raised here in Texas,” Specialist Leonardo Cartagena, an engineer working with Task Force Eagle, said. “The saying 'Texans helping Texans' is definitely dear and true to my heart. At the end of the day, it’s also about securing the towns and making sure no bad people come into town to hurt our loved ones and [ensure] that we’re keeping each other safe.”

Since Abbott launched Operation Lone Star, OLS officers have apprehended more than 529,500 illegal border crossers and made more than 49,400 criminal arrests, with more than 42,500 felony charges reported. They’ve also seized more than 588 million lethal doses of fentanyl, enough to kill everyone in the U.S. and Mexico combined.