Human Smuggling

As election day nears, a non-profit migrant shelter in San Antonio saw the number of housed migrants rise since May. As Texas border border cities begin to experience a rise in crossings, the San Antonio Migrant Resource Center has housed nearly 12,500 migrants since October 1, 2024.

Search off Greek island of Samos recovers bodies of two people reported missing overnight after a boat carrying 24 migrants ran into trouble.

A group of 75 migrants crossing to Europe from North Africa has been rescued from a crippled boat south of the island of Crete.

A convicted drug and human smuggler pleaded guilty to additional charges regarding numerous video calls with an underage teen female while awaiting trial behind bars.

A Houston man is charged with human smuggling after a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper found 16 migrants locked behind a fake wall in a cargo trailer.

A van apparently packed with migrants veered off a road and hit a lamp post in Croatia while speeding to escape police.

At least 12 people, mostly women, have been killed in an unseaworthy boat attempting to gain access to the United Kingdom’s southern border.

El Paso Sector Border Patrol agents rescued groups of migrants from multiple stash houses near the border in New Mexico. So far this year, El Paso Sector agents rescued nearly 2,400 migrants from 244 human smuggling stash houses.

The record-shattering surge of migrant crossings in the Swanton Sector continues with the apprehension of more than 2,700 migrants in July. The sector of the U.S.-Canada Border experienced an increase of nearly 200 percent from the same record-setting period one

Authorities in Mexico found 22 migrants who were abandoned by smugglers inside a truck that had a blown tire. The migrants did not have paperwork to be in the country and are believed to have been headed north to the U.S. border.

A factsheet report released by the House Committee on Homeland Security Republicans this week highlighted the more than 170,000 nationwide migrant encounters in July. According to the committee factsheet released on Wednesday, the total of nationwide encounters under the Biden-Harris administration climbed to 10.1 million. That total did not include the roughly two million known got-aways recorded by CBP since the start of fiscal year 2021.

Homeland Security Investigations special agents arrested 70 migrants during the past week in human smuggling stash houses being operated out of short-term rental properties. HSI officials say the use of these type of rental properties to warehouse migrants is a growing trend.

Federal authorities arrested a Haitian national in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who was previously deported from the United States after a felony conviction for human smuggling. The smuggling incident resulted in the deaths of ten migrants more than a decade earlier.

A federal judge sentenced a 27-year-old Pharr, Texas, resident to eight years in federal prison for his role in a migrant smuggling operation that authorities suspect may have moved thousands of migrants from the border region into the interior of the United States.

A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper arrested a confirmed Tren de Aragua, who was released by the Biden-Harris administration for alleged smuggling of persons. The Venezuelan gang member was wearing an ICE tracking device at the time of his arrest. This was his second arrest on human smuggling charges.

Following a series of election-year gambits, Border Patrol reports show that migrant apprehensions along the southwest border fell to Trump-era levels for the first time since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office in 2021. According to an unofficial Border Patrol report reviewed by Breitbart Texas, the number of agents encountered fell to just over 56,000 during July.

Despite coordinating the investment of more than $5 billion in public and private investments to increase employment opportunities and reduce corruption in Central America, Vice President Kamala Harris’s efforts to stem the flow of migrants across the southwest border have failed miserably. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, more than 500 thousand unaccompanied migrant children arrived at the United States border with Mexico since the Biden-Harris administration took office.

Two Mexican nationals who were illegally in the United States are largely responsible for building a human smuggling organization that moved almost 2,500 migrants from Central America into the U.S. The duo laundered almost $2.9 million in profits, federal prosecutors revealed, adding that they often kidnapped migrants for ransom.

Serbia lies on the Balkan migrant route, where people smugglers facilitate border crossings for people seeking to reach Western Europe.

During Wednesday night’s Oval Office address, President Joe Biden claimed, “Border Crossings are lower today than when the previous administration left office.” Official reports from U.S. Customs and Border Protection debunk this claim.

A suspected migrant smuggler lost his life attempting to escape from a sheriff’s deputy in Zavala County, Texas, after crashing the vehicle he was driving during a high-speed pursuit. The suspected smuggler fled from law enforcement authorities late Sunday evening after being spotted in La Pryor, Texas, driving a brown Chevrolet pickup truck sporting Louisianna license plates.

A New Mexico man will now face up to 19 years in federal prison after shooting a Border Patrol agent twice during a failed human smuggling attempt. His protective body armor saved the agent’s life.

Mexican authorities are escorting more than 3,000 migrants who began trekking their way north as part of a new migrant caravan, with each of the participants having the ultimate goal of reaching the U.S. border and requesting asylum or some other form of protected status.

Law enforcement authorities in Mexico arrested a man believed to be the leader of a large human smuggling organization. The arrest of the Sierra Leone national in Mexico was made at the request of the United States Department of Treasury.

Border Patrol agents in the Swanton Sector established yet another record with the apprehension of more than 3,300 migrants in June. The sector, which covers the Canadian border with Vermont, New Hampshire, and eastern New York, is now the fifth-busiest of the 20 U.S. Border Patrol sectors.

Preparations are underway for a new migrant caravan to depart southern Mexico this weekend. While the caravan targets Mexico City, the ultimate goal of the migrants taking part is the U.S. border, where most are expected to ask for asylum or some other kind of protected status.

A group of young people walking home from a music festival run down by a smuggler’s car trying to outrun police. 

Activists are sounding the alarm about a large group of gunmen who kidnapped more than 200 migrants as they made their way north toward the Sonora-Arizona border. Some of the migrant’s relatives wired thousands of dollars to the alleged kidnappers, but the migrants remain missing.

Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents found 23 migrants hiding in a rail car of a Union Pacific train more than 50 miles from the Texas-Mexico border. The migrants appear to have illegally entered the U.S. between ports of entry without inspection.

As the presidential election nears, migrant apprehensions in the Tucson Sector hit their lowest level of the current fiscal year. Agents apprehended only 2,900 migrants during the past week, according to the sector chief.

The San Diego Border Patrol Sector regained the title of busiest sector along the southwest U.S. border with Mexico in June. Agents apprehended nearly 26,000 migrants who illegally crossed the southern California border with Mexico between ports of entry in June.

A recent gambit by the Biden administration to give the appearance of border enforcement yielded the lowest month of migrant apprehensions of his term. Border Patrol agents apprehended just over 82,000 migrants who illegally crossed the border between ports of entry in June.

The spread of Biden’s border crisis to the U.S.-Canada border continues its exponential growth. Swanton Sector agents arrested more than 3,300 migrants in June, up more than 420 percent from last June. Year-to-date arrests are up nearly 190 percent over the same period last year.

One of the most dangerous obstacles for migrants hoping to enter the United States at the southern border may be closing after an election-year agreement between Panama and the Biden administration. On Monday, the White House announced an agreement between the two governments to significantly reduce crossings through Panama’s Darien Gap, potentially closing the pathway to scores of migrants headed to the United States’ southern border in search of asylum.

Federal immigration authorities in Mexico discovered 63 migrants concealed inside a tractor-trailer at a military checkpoint just 30 miles from El Paso, Texas. The migrants were discovered on Friday during joint enforcement operations involving the military and Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM).

A Laredo, Texas, man faces charges of human smuggling after allegedly leading Department of Public Safety troopers on a high-speed chase. A second pursuit led to the arrest of an alleged illegal immigrant smuggler and a migrant wanted in Wisconsin.