(Central Square) – Texas law enforcement officers working as part of the state’s border enforcement mission, Operation Lone Star, continue to disrupt human smuggling activities as U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports a record number of illegal crossing deaths limits in FY2022.
Law enforcement agencies, working with border guards, discovered 856 corpses of people who entered the United States illegally and probably died from natural causes. The number of illegal alien deaths reported in fiscal year 2022 surpassed the record set in fiscal year 2021, according to the US Customs and Border Protection.
The number of deaths was included in fiscal year-end data, when CBP reported a record 2.7 million enforcement actions in fiscal year 2022, the highest number in U.S. history.
Since last March, OLS officers have detained more than 319,000 illegal aliens, made more than 21,000 criminal arrests and reported more than 18,700 criminal offenses. They also seized more than 346 million lethal doses of fentanyl, enough to kill everyone in the United States.
A recent arrest by DPS troopers offers a glimpse into the daily reality of Texas. In that case, police stopped a dump truck driver on Interstate 35 in La Salle County heading north of the Laredo-Mexico border. 84 mostly men from Guatemala and Mexico and young people were hiding inside. They were detained and turned over to the Border Patrol, and the driver, from Patito, Texas, was arrested and charged with 84 counts of people smuggling.
During OLS, Texas Military DPS discovered 84 illegal immigrants in a dump truck during a vehicle inspection in LaSalle County.
Operation Lone Star.
DPS Lt. Chris Olivares says Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans and El Salvadorans are the ones paying for illegal imports into the US.
To help DPS troopers stop criminal activity in the westernmost region of Texas, the Texas Military Department has expanded its border patrol 400 miles west to El Paso, where there is a significant increase in illegal border crossings.
DPS El Paso Regional Director Jose Sanchez said the El Paso region’s surge can be attributed to mass migration from South America. It is a key location for drug smugglers and human traffickers from the Mexican cartel, who once in El Paso use two major arteries to smuggle people into the US
The FBI has warned that El Paso is a major hub for human smuggling and kidnapping, with its agents continuing to arrest smugglers and find caches.
In the southernmost tip of Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, which has historically seen the highest numbers of illegal immigrants, Texas National Guard engineers are working to improve safety for students at the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley.
An increase in criminal activity and illegal river crossings affected campus life so much that the University Police asked for help from the National Guard. After foreign nationals illegally enter Texas by crossing the Rio Grande River between ports of entry, they look for a place to hide to avoid capture by law enforcement. In this case, they found a 1.5-hectare area of dense overgrowth on the university grounds. Using the area as cover, they began infiltrating the campus and committing crimes, authorities said.
First Lt. Chris Daniel, 176th Engineer Brigade, part of Engineer Task Force East, said in a statement that the criminal aliens used the area “as a hideout to cross the campus and enter the vehicles that delivered them deep into the United States.” .” His group cleared the area to improve campus security.
In addition to OLS efforts on the Texas-Mexico border, sheriffs in several counties participating in the task force, led by Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd, prevent criminal activity several hundred miles north along Highway 59.
So far, they have initiated 12,654 traffic stops, 322 pursuits and 204 rescues, OLS Task Force Commander John Davis told The Center Square. They detained 2,186 illegal foreign nationals and made 1,855 arrests, including 179 charged with organized crime and 374 with people smuggling.
They participated in 324 rescues, saved 1,352 illegal foreign citizens and recovered the bodies of 84 dead.
Also, 258 vehicles were seized, 181 stolen vehicles and 31 firearms were confiscated. As a result of the 196 drug seizures, 16 kg of heroin, 6 kg of cocaine, 1.7 kg of methamphetamine and 3.6 pounds of marijuana were seized. They also seized $591,000 in cash and recorded more than $286,000 in property damage to residents.
So far, the Texas Legislature has committed $4 billion of Texas taxpayer dollars to border security efforts.
This week, the state legislative budget allocated $359,673,191 to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to further fund OLS efforts. That includes $339 million to the Texas Military Department and $20.6 million to state aid agencies.
