Texas officers apprehend human smugglers, rescue unaccompanied children

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers continue to apprehend human smugglers and rescue unaccompanied minors at the border through Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star.

Recent human smuggling arrests were primarily of male Mexican nationals in the country illegally.

In one recent arrest, a smuggler led DPS troopers in a vehicle pursuit along Highway 83 in a commercial area in Hidalgo County. Using a pursuit tactic maneuver, forcing the driver to turn sideways and stop, troopers were able to end the pursuit. The driver was arrested for smuggling of persons and evading arrest. They also apprehended five Mexican nationals in the country illegally and referred them to Border Patrol.

In another apprehension, a coyote, or smuggling guide, from Mexico was apprehended after OLS officers found information posted on the social media platform, Tik Tok. The site was used to post a video of the coyote directing foreign nationals across the Rio Grande River, up the riverbank and into Texas. It also shows an alleged smuggler picking them up in a vehicle at a pre-planned location and time. The social media post enabled law enforcement to pursue the alleged smuggler and make an arrest, DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez said.

In Webb County, farther west, DPS troopers apprehended an alleged human smuggler from Laredo after conducting a traffic stop at night on Interstate 35.

After a trooper pulled over the male driver of a commercial tractor trailer, troopers found two Mexican nationals who’d entered the country illegally hiding inside the gas tank of the vehicle. The driver admitted there were “bodies in the truck,” one DPS officer said after questioning him. They arrested the driver on two counts of human smuggling and referred the two Mexican nationals to Border Patrol.

In another thwarted human smuggling event near Mission, Texas, a DPS brush team working with a K-9 pursued a group of illegal border crossers for nearly three miles. Referred to as gotaways, they illegally entered the country between ports of entry to avoid capture. Gotaways don’t file asylum or other immigration claims, make every attempt not to get caught, don’t return to Mexico, and are often involved in criminal activity working with cartel and gangs, law enforcement officers have explained to The Center Square.

In a separate incident, troopers in Sullivan City arrested a Mexican national and alleged human smuggler who illegally entered the country after a short pursuit. The troopers found six illegal border crossers who allegedly paid to be smuggled across the border wearing colored wristbands, “indicating they each paid the Cartel to be smuggled across the Rio Grande,” Olivarez said.

In another incident, troopers in Eagle Pass stopped a group of 114 illegal border crossers. Among them were 13 unaccompanied children between the ages of 7 and 16. They were all in the country illegally, citizens of Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, according to DPS. They were all referred to Border Patrol.

Texas DPS officers have rescued more than 900 unaccompanied children under the Biden administration, the most in state history.

Since federal authorities relocate the greatest number of unaccompanied minors brought into the country to live with sponsors or federally contracted facilities in Texas, with the most arriving in U.S. history under the Biden administration, a Texas-based group has called on the state legislature to act, The Center Square first reported.

Sheena Rodriguez, the founder and director of Alliance for a Safe Texas, for more than two years has called on the Texas legislature to strengthen state law overseeing facilities housing unaccompanied children in Texas. She’s also called on the Office of the Texas Attorney General to launch an investigation similar to one launched in Florida, which has yet to happen. The legislature is expected to consider her proposals, which have bipartisan support, when it convenes next year.

Since Abbott launched OLS in early 2021, Texas law enforcement officers have apprehended more than 525,800 illegal border crossers and made more than 48,500 criminal arrests, with more than 41,800 felony charges reported. Texas law enforcement officers have also seized more than 552 million lethal doses of fentanyl, enough to kill everyone in the United States and Mexico combined.

Due to several factors, including OLS efforts, illegal border crossings between ports of entry in Texas have decreased in one year by more than 51%, according to official U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, The Center Square reported.