Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol officials report a rise in the new year in the number of interior human smuggling incidents encountered. During the past week, agents interdicted seven human smuggling incidents.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended 67 migrants in five failed human smuggling events on May 3. In one of the incidents, agents found 25 migrants packed in a tractor-trailer hauling a load of onions.
Border Patrol agents in two Texas sectors found groups of migrants being smuggled in dump trailers in attempts to circumvent interior immigration checkpoints. The interdictions led to the apprehensions of 24 migrants and the recovery of a stolen truck.
Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector interdicted multiple human smuggling attempts during the Labor Day weekend. The encounters led to the rescue of several migrants being transported in dangerous situations.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents rescued 17 migrants after they were abandoned by human smugglers on ranches in Texas. The rescues took place in four separate incidents in two South Texas counties.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents arrested 156 migrants during a four-day period ending on Thanksgiving. They recovered the migrants from life-threatening smuggling incidents.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents arrested 60 migrants in multiple human smuggling interdictions during a two-day period. The agents disrupted stash house operations and intercepted transportation efforts.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents seized more than 330 pounds of methamphetamine and cocaine at two interior immigration checkpoints located about 80 miles from the border with Mexico. The seizures took more than $9.5 million dollars worth of drugs out of the hands of cartel-connected drug traffickers.
Border Patrol agents found two Korean women in a human smuggling stash house in the Rio Grande Valley near the Texas border with Mexico. Officials said it is uncommon to find Korean migrants in stash houses.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended 33 migrants they found in cargo areas of commercial trucks in two separate incidents. The agents found 13 migrants in the cargo area of one truck and 20 more in a second. Additionally, agents rescued a Guatemalan woman in Brooks County, Texas, who had been abandoned by human smugglers.
Border Patrol agents working opposite ends of the Texas border arrested three previously deported criminal aliens after they illegally crossed into Texas. Agents identified one of the illegal aliens as a four-time deported Mexican national convicted of voluntary manslaughter, the second as a sex offender, and the third as a MS-13 gang member with a criminal history.
Border Patrol agents in South Texas carried out multiple rescues of migrants as summertime temperatures approached the century mark. Agents rescued at least four who became distressed or dehydrated after illegally crossing the border from Mexico and one who suffered a snake bite while attempting to sneak around an interior immigration checkpoint.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents seized more than 92 pounds of cocaine at an interior immigration checkpoint. Officials estimated the drugs to be worth nearly $3 million.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents seized more than 135 pounds of cocaine and methamphetamine at two inland checkpoints about 80 miles from the Mexican border.
Officials in Texas report that four more migrants died recently after being abandoned by human smugglers on ranches near the Mexican border. At least 155 migrants have been found dead while or shortly after crossing the border from Mexico into Texas in 2019.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents stopped two human smuggling events at separate inland immigration checkpoints. These incidents occurred amid shutdowns of similar posts to reallocate manpower to border stations.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents seized more than $2 million in methamphetamine at an inland checkpoint located about 70 miles from the Texas-Mexico border.