Texas law enforcement officials, including Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, special investigators, and Texas Rangers, are making significant strides in capturing suspected human smugglers and gang members who have illegally re-entered the state after absconding. The operation, dubbed Lone Star, is proving to be successful in cracking down on these criminal activities.
Recently, Texas Rangers caught Juan Miguel Regalado, a member of the Tango Blast gang, who had been evading arrest since April on charges of human smuggling and had fled to Mexico.
According to DPS, Regalado was involved in a high-speed chase with Texas DPS troopers in Webb County towards the end of April. Despite the chase, he decided to slow down at a crowded intersection to allow several foreign nationals to flee from his vehicle. One of them ended up hitting his head on the pavement and sustaining injuries, while the rest ran through oncoming traffic to evade arrest.
Several troopers chased after Regalado as he drove south on I-35 towards the Rio Grande River. Eventually, he drove down an embankment and abandoned his vehicle, swimming across the river to Mexico.
The Texas Rangers arrested him when he returned to Texas at a certain point.
In Webb County, a team of DPS troopers and Criminal Investigations Division special agents pulled over the drivers of a Peterbilt truck tractor semi-trailer and a Dodge Ram pickup truck that were driving in sync on I-35. The driver of the Peterbilt truck was asked to step out of the vehicle for questioning.
Asking about his destination, the driver replied, “I’m going to pick up vacuum loads.” Noticing his shaky hands, the trooper inquired if he was concealing anything in the truck. The driver denied and claimed, “I didn’t do anything illegal.” Despite this, the trooper asked directly if any illegal items were present in the vehicle, to which the driver consented to a search.
Upon inspection, the troopers discovered 19 Mexican individuals concealed in an enclosed area behind the cab. The area was zipped shut, and one of the individuals displayed symptoms of heat exhaustion. The trooper promptly instructed the affected person to move out of the area to get some air, as the temperature inside was considerably high. The individual received medical attention to address the situation.
Two white men, Jackson Earl West of Tomball, Texas, and Dennis Allen Davis of Jarrell, Texas, were apprehended and charged with smuggling of persons. Border Patrol took custody of all 19 illegal foreign nationals.
In Kinney County, Texas, DPS troopers and Florida Highway Patrol troopers recently stopped two women who were suspected of smuggling humans. Upon approaching the vehicle, they discovered four undocumented foreign nationals crammed into the back seat of the truck. The driver of the vehicle, Karina Isamar Martinez from Houston, was also questioned by the authorities.
According to The Center Square, she informed the troopers that she had picked up “hitchhikers,” which is a common response among Americans who travel to the border from Houston, which is over five hours away.
As she spoke to the trooper, she described the hitchhikers as Hispanic and admitted to picking them up on the side of the road. When questioned about receiving a text, she denied it. She also mentioned that she didn’t know any of them and that some of them were hiding under a cover in the truck bed.
According to Lt. Chris Olivarez, the spokesperson for the DPS, human smuggling is a well-coordinated effort that involves communication through social media platforms and encrypted messaging. Those involved in this illegal activity provide GPS coordinates to pick up individuals who are crossing the border illegally. Although they are aware of the consequences of their actions, they try to distance themselves from the criminal activity when stopped by law enforcement.
According to The Center Square, law enforcement officers have confirmed that individuals from major trafficking hubs such as Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio are not traveling to the border to pick up “hitchhikers.”
Martinez, along with her passenger, Azucena Raquel Roman, from Hockley, Texas, got arrested for smuggling individuals. The vehicle they were in had seven illegal foreign nationals concealed, who were later handed over to the Border Patrol.
According to the latest data, since March 2021 when Gov. Greg Abbott launched OLS, officers participating in OLS have apprehended over 513,100 illegal foreign nationals and made more than 43,700 criminal arrests. It has been reported that over 38,400 felony charges have been made as well.
According to data from DPS, over 7,300 individuals suspected of smuggling have been apprehended, including individuals as young as 13 and as old as 77 years of age.
One of the new laws pertaining to border security involves stricter penalties for human smuggling, which now carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years.