(The Center Square) – Texas Department of Public Safety officers working through Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security mission Operation Lone Star continue to apprehend human smugglers and find stash houses in border counties.
In three recent cases, alleged smugglers were women from a town north of Houston: a Mississippi man, and two Mexican nationals in the country illegally.
In Val Verde County, during a traffic stop on US-277, a DPS trooper pulled over a female driver from Shepherd, Texas. When asked why she was there, she said her boyfriend lived there. When he asked her where he lived, she struggled to answer the question. She looked at her phone, attempting to say Carrizo Springs, which is located in Dimmit County roughly two hours from Del Rio, 45 minutes from Eagle Pass and one hour from Piedras Negras, Mexico.
Shepherd is located one hour north of Houston and is roughly a 6-hour drive to Carrizo Springs.
Highway 277 is a common smuggling route stretching from Eagle Pass to Del Rio, OLS officials have explained to The Center Square. It parallels the Rio Grande River along the southernmost part of Uvalde and Kinney counties.
The trooper also noticed three people attempting to conceal themselves in the back seat. He called for backup and the driver and passenger, also a female from Shepherd, were questioned. When asked what her boyfriend’s name was, the driver said it was Juan but couldn’t pronounce his last name. Her response was similar to others who’ve been caught lying to OLS officers, The Center Square has reported.
While being questioned outside of the vehicle, and while several officers were standing right next to it, two inside burst out and ran towards the brush attempting to evade capture. They were caught.
Both women were arrested on three counts of smuggling of persons. All three inside were Mexicans in the U.S. illegally and were handed over to Border Patrol.
Also in Val Verde County on US-277, a DPS trooper pulled over a driver of what appeared to be a Lowe’s home improvement store delivery truck at night near Del Rio. After consenting to a vehicle search, the trooper entered the truck, which appeared to be empty. She called for backup and OLS officers used a crowbar to pull apart a fake wall.
“I see bodies,” she said. They found 17 people crammed inside a three-foot wide space with no air ventilation.
The driver, from Jackson, Mississippi, was arrested and charged with smuggling of persons with the likelihood of serious bodily injury or death. He was not a Lowes delivery driver; the truck was not a Lowes vehicle.
The 17 crammed inside, citizens of Columbia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, were turned over to Border Patrol. Several were treated for dehydration.
In Starr County, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers located a stash house where 11 citizens of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, all in the U.S. illegally, were being held. When the officers arrived, they found them sitting on the floor of a bedroom. They were handcuffed in the kitchen and then brought outside, where they were turned over to Border Patrol.
One of the alleged stash house operators, a female Mexican citizen in the U.S. illegally, was arrested and charged with operating the stash house. One of the alleged smugglers, a Mexican citizen in the U.S. illegally, who was waiting in a vehicle outside of the stash house, was arrested and charged with smuggling of persons.
Since Gov. Greg Abbott launched OLS in March 2021, officers have apprehended more than 518,900 illegal foreign nationals and made more than 46,300 criminal arrests, with more than 40,200 felony charges reported, as of Sept. 13, according to the governor’s office.
They’ve also seized more than 521 million lethal doses of fentanyl, enough to kill everyone in the United States and Mexico combined.
