Human Smuggling - Page 10

A flotilla of homemade and other makeshift small boats continue to make landings along the Florida coast. The boats carry migrants from multiple countries to the U.S.

El Paso Sector Border Patrol agents encountered nearly 7,400 migrants who crossed the border from Mexico, mostly to the city of El Paso, over the weekend. Border Patrol officials called it a “major surge” in an already overwhelmed sector of the border.

Video reports from El Paso, Texas, indicate that a record-setting large group of more than 1,000 migrants crossed the border overnight from Mexico. Border Patrol agents reportedly have more than 5,000 in custody with nowhere to place new migrant arrivals.

Boat landings of migrants along the Florida coast continue at a rapid rate. Late last week, Miami Sector Border Patrol agents teamed up with other law enforcement partners to interdict multiple boat landings leading to the arrests of 13 migrants from multiple nations.

Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 206,000 migrants who crossed the border between ports of entry in November. This represents an increase of nearly 21 percent over the record-setting 167,000 migrants apprehended in November 2021.

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers working brush operations in rural Kinney County utilized technology to track down a group of migrants illegally trespassing on a ranch. Near Laredo, troopers found another group using their own technology to try to avoid apprehension.

Texas Department of Public Safety Special Agents found a group of 50 migrants locked inside a Conex container in a Laredo junkyard. The search came after the agents apprehended five other migrants being smuggled in a stolen tractor-trailer.

Governor Greg Abbott’s busing of migrants to Chicago led officials from that city and the state of Illinois to visit the  Texas border with Mexico. The officials described their visit to the overwhelmed Texas border sector as “eye-opening.”

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers interdicted multiple human smuggling operations, leading to the arrests of smugglers and migrants. In one incident, troopers found a deported Honduran man in possession of a .45 caliber handgun and fake driver’s licenses.

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a large group of migrants along the border wall west of Lukeville, Arizona, coming from eight nations.

Nearly 500 migrants in three separate groups enter the United States to surrender to authorities. On a rainy and cold Saturday morning, the groups forded the Rio Grande and walked more than a mile into the United States to surrender to Border Patrol agents and a Maverick County Sheriff’s Office deputy.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents rescued an unconscious migrant found near the Texas border with Mexico. After providing initial medical assistance, agents arranged transportation for the migrant to an area hospital.

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents arrested a human smuggler who packed a group of migrants into the cargo area of an SUV near the Arizona border with Mexico. The migrants included three tender-aged children.

A group of eight migrants bailed out of a pickup truck following a traffic stop near the border in Zavala County, Texas. A Department of Public Safety trooper arrested the female driver and turned two apprehended migrants over to Border Patrol agents.

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents encountered a group of 94 migrants along the border wall near Lukeville, Arizona, on Friday. The migrants came to the United States illegally from six different nations, officials stated.

Texas police and National Guard soldiers find a group of 13 migrants in the brush along the bank of the Rio Grande border with Mexico. The Department of Public Safety troopers and National Guardsmen routinely patrol these areas under Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star.

At least one migrant is dead following a rollover crash in South Texas where a smuggler attempted to flee and avoid arrest. The driver and 11 migrants were all ejected from a pickup truck.

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers arrested 60 migrants for trespassing on a ranch near the border. The arrested migrants came from a group of 400 who illegally crossed near Normandy, Texas, over the weekend.

A human smuggler allegedly drove his SUV directly into a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle while attempting to avoid apprehension. The head-on collision left no one with serious injuries.

The driver of a U-Haul box truck in Arizona led Border Patrol agents on a high-speed pursuit with a group of migrants locked in the rear cargo area. The migrants had no means of escape in the event of a crash or abandonment.

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers arrested an alleged human smuggler after finding 84 migrants hiding in the cargo area of a dump truck as part of Operation Lone Star activities Tuesday.

Sheriff’s office detectives in Florida arrested two people for allegedly smuggling migrants into the U.S. and forcing them to work in sex clubs to pay off their debt. The investigation led to the arrests of the two and the rescue of eight women.

Swanton Sector Border Patrol agents in Vermont arrested two migrants for human smuggling who illegally crossed the border into Texas as children and were subsequently released. The agents arrested the pair as they attempted to smuggle five migrants who crossed the Canadian border into Vermont and allegedly got in their vehicle.

Thousands of Venezuelan migrants claim a sudden U.S. border policy shift left them with nowhere to go and without a country to go back to.

A Mexican court sentenced four Gulf Cartel members who kidnapped migrants and held them for ransom to 90-year terms in prison following their conviction for aggravated kidnapping. Another cartel member received a 50-year term in prison for a similar but separate crime.

U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended a record-setting 2.2 million migrants during the recently closed Fiscal Year 22. This represents a massive 33 percent increase over the previous record set just last year by the Biden administration.

A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper working in Laredo, Texas, observed a group of people suspected to be in the U.S. illegally get into the back of a commercial tractor-trailer. The trooper, working under Operation Lone Star stopped the truck for an inspection and found 11 people.

A human smuggler led Texas Department of Public Safety troopers on a high-speed pursuit and crashed after losing control in a curving turn. The vehicle rolled upside-down in the river and resulted in the death of one migrant.

Texas Department of Public Safety officials report an increasing number of cases where human smugglers use migrants to drive their transport vehicles. The move is seen as an increased danger to those being smuggled and innocent drivers on Texas highways.

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents interdicted a human smuggling attempt during a traffic stop on Interstate 10 in Arizona.

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents found a group of 32 Guatemalan migrants who illegally crossed the border near San Miguel, Arizona, last week. The group consisted of 30 migrant children and two adults.

El Paso Sector Border Patrol agents rescued a group of 41 migrants being held in a makeshift human stash house. The smugglers utilized a tow-behind travel trailer to hold the migrants.

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers are encountering more dangerous human smuggling incidents, many including high-speed pursuits. DPS officials released videos recently showing the dangers these smugglers put their “cargo” in as well as the general public on the roadways.

A police pursuit near Uvalde, Texas, led to the arrest of a suspected human smuggler and the apprehension of 13 migrants from Mexico. The fleeing smuggler endangered the migrants and other drivers on the highway by recklessly driving at high speeds in an attempt to avoid arrest.

Texas sheriff’s deputies responded with Border Patrol agents after receiving a tip about a suspicious tractor-trailer in a residential neighborhood near the border. The law enforcement team found 84 migrants who had been offloaded from the 18-wheeler.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection marine unit rescued four migrants from a sinking boat off the coast of Texas. The Air and Marine Operations agents worked with the U.S. Coast Guard to carry out the rescue operation.