Smugglers embedding criminals with families to cross border, Texas troopers say
by Anna Giaritelli, Homeland Security Reporter |
| March 21, 2021 06:55 AM Human traffickers are sneaking hardened criminals across the U.S.-Mexico border by embedding them with families, according to Texas troopers.
A Texas Department of Public Safety officer deployed to the border recently pulled over an adult man and a 14-year-old girl in Starr County and discovered the man was a fugitive wanted by law enforcement for sexual assault. Both had just come over the border illegally. The girl was not related to him, and it's likely they were paired up to cross the border together.
"That kind of thing is being ignored right now by the media. They’re focused on families and children, but there's more to it," the DPS spokesman told the Washington Examiner.
The arrest comes two weeks after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the state's DPS officers, known as "troopers," to help U.S. Border Patrol agents on the southern border as part of the state's Operation Lone Star. The department has 600 troopers and investigators in its southern region, approximately 100 of whom have been shifted to focus on criminal activities at the border. They have brought in boats, helicopters, and vehicles to patrol rivers and land.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/smugglers-embedding-criminals-with-families-cross-border-texas-troopers
