WATCH: East Texas Man Charged with Migrant Smuggling near Border

An East Texas man from Tyler now faces state charges for evading arrest and human smuggling after police say they found seven illegal immigrants in his vehicle.

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers attempted to stop a vehicle in Kenny County last week, according to a post on X by spokesman Lieutenant Chris Olivarez. The driver failed to yield and led the troopers on a high-speed pursuit, he stated.

.@TxDPS & #Florida Troopers pursue a human smuggler on US 90 in Kinney County. Troopers arrested the driver from Tyler, TX, after finding 7 illegal immigrants crammed inside his vehicle. He faces state felony charges for evading & human smuggling. #OperationLoneStar pic.twitter.com/yNWqfvQBlR

— Chris Olivarez (@LtChrisOlivarez) December 14, 2023

At one point in the pursuit, the driver is seen stopping long enough for four illegal immigrants to bail out and flee into the brush. The driver eventually stopped and more migrants jumped out and attempted to flee.

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The troopers found a total of seven migrants who had been packed into the SUV.

Olivarez reports the troopers identified the driver as Lee Stratford, a resident of Tyler. The report states that he now faces charges of evading arrest and smuggling of persons.

Troopers turned the seven apprehended migrants over to Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents for processing.

Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.