Texas Troopers Helping Reduce Number of Migrant Got-Aways near Border

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers assigned to Operation Lone Star are making headway in reducing the number of migrant got-aways making their way into the U.S. interior. Troopers track down migrants making their way through ranches located as far as 80-100 miles away from the Mexican border in addition to those being smuggled in vehicles, rail cars, and tractor-trailers.

In addition to the nearly 410,000 migrants apprehended during the first two months of the new fiscal year, Border Patrol officials say another nearly 140,000 migrants are classified as “got-aways.” This means more than a half-million migrants crossed the southwest border during the first two months of the year. Last week, another 4,000 migrants escaped apprehension just in the Del Rio Sector in Texas.

Texas DPS spokesman Lt. Chris Olivarez reports are augmenting Border Patrol agents efforts to stop migrants from evading capture and making their way into the U.S. interior. Fox News journalist Bill Melugin witnessed the apprehension of 50 such migrants who escaped apprehension along the border only to be arrested by DPS troopers operating in the brush.

Lt. Olivarez told NewsNationNow.com that Texan National Guard troops and DPS troopers are working a “first-0f-its-kind” specialized joint operation to work with Border Patrol agents to reduce got-aways.

“They’re seeing all these different challenges trying to apprehend gotaways, trying to focus on and apprehend families that are coming across, human smuggling and now also dealing with drone incursions that we’re seeing,” Olivarez told the news outlet. He said Texas law enforcement stepped up because the Border Patrol is stretched so thinly “with only two agents to cover several miles of border.”

“We’ve made an impact in just the small area we have been working,” Olivarez said. “We are able to make these apprehensions where otherwise there wouldn’t be manpower there, (and) these (migrants) would be gotaways.”

Texas Military Department officials previously told Breitbart Texas that up to 30 percent of the migrants apprehended on inland Texas ranches have criminal histories.

Journalist Ali Bradley reported that 14 DPS troopers are teamed up with Texas Military Department solders to supplement Border Patrol agents by capturing migrants who would otherwise be classified as got-aways.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.