Facebook Live Captures Alleged Smuggler with Migrants During High-Speed Car Chase

A Facebook Live video appears to capture several minutes of a vehicle pursuit where an alleged human smuggler with ten migrants onboard claims to be attempting to outrun law enforcement. The video and the Facebook account of the person who posted the video have since been made unavailable.

“I’ve got immigration on my ass,” the alleged human smuggler can be heard telling his “tio” (uncle) in a cell phone conversation. “I’ve got immigration on my ass because I have ten guys with me.”

“I need you to do me a huge favor and not tell anyone,” he continued. “I’m in a f*cking sh*thole fight now. Could you go open the ranch gate so that I can drive in super fast and close the gate so I can lose them?”

He explained that Border Patrol vehicles were about a mile behind him at the time.

His uncle apparently responded that he was in town and no one was at the ranch to open the gate. “F*ck,” the alleged smuggler responded.

“I am going to save these vatos (men) and I’m going to save my ass,” he concluded before hanging up. Earlier in the video, he could be heard calling his father and telling him “I love you” as if saying goodbye.

At one point, the female passenger (also reported to be a human smuggler) claimed the vehicle was doing “160.” That speed in kilometers per hour converts to about 100 mph.

At one point, the alleged smuggler tells the woman, “We’re jumping, we’re running, we’re leaving the car.”

Shortly after the alleged smuggler says goodbye to his uncle, he appears to drive the vehicle off the roadway at a high speed. The vehicle comes to a stop and everyone bails out of the vehicle. The woman continues the video as she runs through the brush. Police sirens can be heard approaching the scene about a minute after the bailout.

Sheriff’s office deputies in Zapata County, Texas, initiated a vehicle pursuit on a vehicle suspected to be smuggling a group of migrants on Friday, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Hector Garza told Breitbart Texas in his role as Vice President of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC). Texas Department of Public Safety troopers backed up the deputies during the pursuit, he said.

“When Border Patrol agents arrived on the scene of the bailout, they conducted a search and apprehended the driver and passenger along with several aliens,” Garza told Breitbart Texas in a phone interview.”

“This video shows the real danger these human smuggling pursuits present,” Garza continued. “Fortunately, this one ended safely but we see way too many where innocent civilian bystanders are injured or killed in crashes involving these smugglers.”

Garza said agents in his sector have seen an increase in the number of pursuits as more migrants are shifting from a strategy of turning themselves in at the border to attempt to avoid apprehension and detention.

“You can hear the fear in the voices of the people pleading to be let out as the vehicle reached speeds around 100 mph,” Garza stated. “Many times, these types of pursuits end in crashes, or worse yet, vehicle rollovers where the migrants are severely injured or killed.”

In June 2018, Border Patrol agents in the Del Rio Sector engaged in a pursuit of a human smuggler with 14 people crammed into a Chevrolet Tahoe, Breitbart Texas reported. Dimmit County Sheriff’s Office deputies took over the pursuit which ended after the driver lost control while entering the town of Big Wells, Texas. The vehicle rolled several times ejecting 12 of the 14 people on board. At least four migrants died at the scene and a fifth died at a San Antonio hospital from injuries sustained in the crash.

“We have also seen an increase in the strategy of packing human cargo into big-rig trailers,” Garza continued. “This appears to be happening as more OTMs (Other Than Mexican) migrants are returned to Mexico under the MPP policy. As the migrants figure out they can’t just arrive and stay, they begin to seek more traditional human smuggling tactics to get into the country.”

Breitbart Texas reports extensively on the human smuggling activities in South Texas and Arizona involving tractor-trailer rigs with human cargo.

Breitbart Texas reached out to Laredo Sector Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials for an official statement on the vehicle pursuit. Officials promised a response that has not yet been received.