Human smugglers are continuing to be apprehended by law enforcement officers working through Texas’ border security mission, Operation Lone Star.
Texas DPS troopers, sheriffs and their deputies, police officers and constables, Border Patrol and other federal agents as well as law enforcement officers from other states are trying to stop Americans and foreign nationals from smuggling people north from the Texas-Mexico border. The smugglers are responding to social media ads from cartels believing they’ll be paid several thousand dollars per person they successfully bring north, law enforcement officers have explained to The Center Square.
Every day, law enforcement officers are finding people, both adults and children, hiding in train cars, inside the beds of pick-up trucks, packed in cars, or hiding in the cabs of semi-trucks. They also find them hiding behind bales of hay, stacked tires, crates of fruit or vegetables in the back of trucks, or inside of moving vans or trucks.
In February, Kinney County Sheriff’s Office deputies apprehended smugglers from Houston who’d stuffed a 5-year-old in the trunk. It took three deputies to revive her and save her life. In neighboring Uvalde County, officers and Border Patrol agents found people hiding in grain cars.
Most recently, officers found teenagers stuffed in a car trunk in south Texas where temperatures reach well over 100 degrees.
