A member of the violent MS-13 gang was captured approximately 90 miles into Texas after illegally crossing the porous U.S. border with Mexico. The arrest was made by a volunteer reserve deputy working together with U.S. Border Patrol agents. The law enforcement team was trying to help round up a large group of illegal immigrants who were being smuggled through Brooks County in an attempt to circumvent the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint.
Brooks County Reserve Deputy Cameron Coleman told Breitbart Texas that he and a Border Patrol agent were being led into an area by a Border Patrol helicopter where several illegal immigrants were hiding. He said they found one male the helicopter had not detected who was hiding under some brush. “He was wearing several layers of clothes,” Coleman said. “This must have been why the chopper did not detect him. We held him at gun point and called in Spanish for him to come out with his hands up. When he came out, he took off running.”
Coleman said he and the agent chased the suspect for quite some distance before he tripped over a branch and fell. “We wrestled with him, but he kept fighting and trying to get away,” Coleman explained. “Even after he was handcuffed, he kept trying to escape and run.”
Coleman said they determined from the equipment the man was carrying and his apparent experience in how to move in that brush and terrain at night led them to determine this was the human smuggling guide for this group. He said it was unusual for him to fight the way he did to get away. “Usually, once they are captured, the fight is over,” he stated. “At one point, I was alone with him after the agent went in pursuit of another illegal immigrant who popped out of the brush. The one I had custody of tried to get away again and I had to take him to the ground to regain control.”
A records check by Border Patrol agents later revealed the man to be a member of the violent street gang known as Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13 according to a report by Elizabeth Espinosa on ValleyCentral.com. It was determined there was a prior order of removal filed on the as yet unidentified man from El Salvador. He is being referred to the Rio Grande Valley Prosecution Office.
Coleman works as a volunteer deputy for Brooks County. He is part of a group of certified peace officers who drive to Brooks County to assist the sheriff’s office who is vastly undermanned because of budget restraints. The county currently employes only six sheriff’s deputies to cover nearly a thousand square miles. Coleman and his group of fellow volunteers are members of the Border Brotherhood of Texas. The non-profit group is in need of financial support to bring on more deputies who are willing to volunteer their time to work as Brooks County deputies for free. More information can be found on the group’s Facebook page. Donations can also be made to the group on the page.
Bob Price is a senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
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