(The Center Square) – Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to deploy tactical strike teams to support the Trump administration’s border security and homeland security operations to locate and arrest criminal illegal foreign nationals living in Texas.
On Jan. 24, two major arrests were made, knocking two off of Texas’ “Top Ten Most Wanted” criminal alien list.
“Texas is expanding our operations to assist President Donald Trump to protect Americans and enforce the rule of law,” Abbott said. “After four years of failed policies, Texas finally has a partner in President Trump. Together, we will end this crisis and make America safe once again.”
DPS tactical strike teams will continue to work with federal law enforcement partners, coordinating operations to find and arrest thousands of illegal foreign nationals in Texas with active warrants so they can be deported. Their immediate goal is to identify and arrest 5,400 with active warrants from local jurisdictions statewide, Abbott said.
The strike teams include DPS troopers, special agents, Texas Rangers, those in the DPS Aircraft Operations Division and Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division.
Since new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation efforts began, in less than one week, thousands were arrested, The Center Square reported. On Jan. 26, federal agents arrested 956 illegal border crossers and made 554 detainer requests with local jails; on Jan. 27, 1,179 were arrested and 853 detainer requests were made.
Texas’ efforts could add 5,400 to that list.
Included are members of the violent Tren de Aragua Venezuelan prison gang operating in Texas. DPS is offering up to $5,000 in rewards for tips that lead to their arrest, The Center Square reported.
Others are on DPS’ criminal alien “Top Ten Most Wanted” list, The Center Square reported. Rewards of $3,000 and $5,000 are offered for tips that lead to their arrests, however, DPS warns Texans to “not attempt to apprehend these fugitives; they are considered armed and dangerous.”
Those on the list are all men from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Venezuela.
Their active warrants include charges for aggravated robbery, terroristic threats, assaulting a public servant, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault of a child, human smuggling, among others. Most were previously deported and illegally reentered the U.S. only to be arrested again.
Their last know addresses were in Austin, Conroe, Dripping Springs, El Paso, Grand Prairie, Irving, Marshall, and Sherman.
Salvadoran Omar David Zavala was captured in Mesquite by DPS special agents assigned to the Texas Anti-Gang center in Houston and members of the U.S. Marshals Service Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force. They coordinated with multiple law enforcement agencies in north Texas to locate and arrest him. His criminal history dates to 2014, when he was arrested multiple times by ICE agents and previously removed from the country. He illegally reentered and has been wanted out of Harris County since 2022 for sexual assault, terroristic threat and other charges.
Mexican Jorge Dionicio Hernandez was captured in Houston after authorities received a tip through Texas Crime Stoppers. DPS special agents, HSI investigators and Harris County Sheriff deputies located and arrested him. His criminal history dates to 2009, when he was convicted of multiple DWI counts in Harris County and was removed from the country. He illegally reentered and was arrested in 2021 in Houston for providing a false driver’s license and bonded out of jail. In 2022, he was arrested in Harris County for indecency with a child by sexual contact.
Abbott deployed DPS tactical teams after deploying an additional 400 troops in a Tactical Border Force to the Rio Grande Valley to coordinate efforts with U.S. Border Patrol agents.
Through Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star, thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers have been deployed to the Texas-Mexico border since March 2021. OLS officers alone have apprehended more than 530,000 illegal border crossers, repelled over 140,000 attempted illegal entries, made more than 50,000 criminal arrests, with more than 43,000 felony charges reported, and seized enough lethal doses of fentanyl to kill everyone in the U.S., Mexico and Canada combined, according to data from the governor’s office.
