Texas law enforcement captures 165,000 illegals

 Washington Examiner:

Texas law enforcement and soldiers sent to the border under a state initiative that began in March have encountered more than 165,000 people presumed to have illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border or are themselves smuggling people, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Lt. Chris Olivarez, spokesman for the Texas DPS’s South Region, said during a press conference Thursday that his agency's troopers, along with National Guard soldiers, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department have apprehended and referred 165,000 people to relevant law enforcement for arrest over the past nine months.

The large majority of the 165,000 were apprehended and referred to another agency, such as the U.S. Border Patrol, for arrest. The National Guard apprehended 84,000 of the 165,000.

Approximately 9,900 of the 165,000 were arrested on criminal trespassing charges, including 2,200 in the Del Rio, Texas, region, where tens of thousands of Haitian migrants came across the border in September and created a makeshift camp under the international bridge.

DPS officers have engaged in more than 1,000 vehicle chases since March. On Nov. 26, the day after Thanksgiving, a DPS trooper attempted to stop the driver of a Ford pickup truck suspected of smuggling illegal immigrants. The driver did not pull over and led police on a chase. The truck crashed, resulting in the deaths of two people on board. Eleven other people inside were injured and taken to a local hospital. The driver, who Olivarez said had been recently caught by Border Patrol illegally entering the country and was immediately returned to Mexico under the Title 42 pandemic protocols, was charged with human smuggling and evading arrest.

In another incident on Nov. 28, a DPS trooper working in Kinney County stopped a U-Haul truck and found 12 people being smuggled in the back. The driver and passenger in the front of the truck were from Oklahoma and members of the Crips gang.

"One thing about Del Rio that makes it unique is that we're seeing a lot of smugglers or individuals are coming from larger cities — Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, even out of state," said Olivarez. "They come down to the Rio Grande Valley or more specifically to Del Rio to become human smugglers because a lot ... has been advertised on social media by the criminal organizations."

The uptick in vehicle pursuits is due to the smuggling organizations recruiting more drivers, as well as the DPS increasing its presence, thereby having more officers on the roads to pull over suspicious vehicles.

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Human smuggling is now a crime in Texas and that is why the smugglers try to get away and law enforcement pursues them.  It ia also a federal crime but Biden is derelict in his duty to enforce federal immigration laws and other laws involving the illegals.  He should be impeached.