(The Center Square) – Texas Department of Public Safety troopers continue to arrest single military age men in Texas border counties, including Special Interest Aliens from Afghanistan and Iran. They are also continuing to rescue children being smuggled across the border from Mexico.
Large groups of illegal border crossers continue to be apprehended in Maverick County. On Dec. 1, troopers encountered a group of 176 illegal border crossers, including single adults, family groups, and unaccompanied children. Among them, troopers arrested 85 for criminal trespass, including 11 SIAs from Afghanistan. Other single adults arrested were citizens of El Salvador, Ecuador, Cuba, Colombia, Brazil, and Venezuela, DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez said.
Just after Thanksgiving, troopers also apprehended a group of 289 in Maverick County. Among them were 7 SIAs from Iran. All were turned over to Border Patrol, he said.
Texas DPS has been sounding the alarm about an increased number of arrests of SIAs, The Center Square has reported. Recent arrests are primarily of men from countries of foreign concern, including Iran, a U.S. State Department designated State Sponsor of Terrorism.
Other SIAs DPS has apprehended are from Egypt, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Mali, and Turkey, The Center Square has reported. The majority are being apprehended in Maverick County, with major crossing points in the area of Eagle Pass after cartel operatives move people across the Rio Grande River from Piedras Negras, Mexico.
SIAs are noncitizens who, based “on an analysis of travel patterns,” are “known or evaluated to possibly have a nexus to terrorism” who “potentially poses a national security risk to the United States,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security explains.
Texas DPS troopers are also continuing to apprehend human smugglers and rescue children.
In Hidalgo County, in one instance a Guatemalan woman claiming to be 23 years old said she paid a smuggler to bring her and her 5-year-old son across the border. In a video interview with a trooper, she explains that they tried to cross twice and once they made it across they were left behind in the brush.
DPS drone video footage shows a group of people crossing the river on a raft and walking up the riverbank. No law enforcement, Border Patrol agents or barriers are there to prevent illegal entry, according to the footage.
Waiting for them in Texas was a Mexican national also in the country illegally. His job was to smuggle them further into the country but something went wrong and the mother and child were left behind in the brush. The child was covered in cacti thorns.
Although troopers apprehended the driver, Border Patrol agents took him into custody and arrested and charged him with human smuggling. The child was also treated for injuries. The mother claimed a family member in California paid a smuggling organization to smuggle them across the border and eventually to California, the troopers learned.
Also after Thanksgiving, in a joint operation with Border Patrol, DPS troopers in Mission in Hidalgo County tracked down three Mexican nationals after they illegally entered the country. They were gotaways, those who illegally entered between ports of entry to actively evade capture. Two were wearing cartel wristbands who paid to be smuggled; one was a coyote, paid to help them illegally enter and evade capture. Troopers arrested the coyote and charged him with human smuggling. The others were turned over to Border Patrol.
In another instance, troopers rescued a 5-year-old girl in Val Verde County after being smuggled across the border.
The interdiction began after a trooper stopped the driver of a Ram 1500 on Veterans Boulevard in downtown Del Rio. During the traffic stop, the trooper noticed that the child in the back seat matched the description of one being smuggled across the border caught in a border surveillance video. The footage appears to show a man holding the child while running across a shallow riverbed of the Rio Grande River not far from the traffic stop.
A female Mexican national inside the vehicle who has temporary resident status and lives in North Carolina told the trooper she was the child’s mother. She also said she found a smuggling organization online and paid $8,000 to have the child smuggled across the border. Troopers arrested and charged the smuggler, a Mexican national and permanent resident in the U.S. He confessed he was going to be paid $1,000 to smuggle the child.
The woman and child were turned over to Border Patrol. However, “DPS is conducting a follow up investigation in pursuing charges against the mother upon review by the District Attorney’s Office,” Olivarez said.
