Texas authorities catch Afghan and Iranian males and save smuggled children

In Texas border counties, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers are still making arrests of unmarried men of military age, including Special Interest Aliens from Iran and Afghanistan. Additionally, they keep saving kids who have been transported from Mexico across the border.

Maverick County continues to capture large groups of illegal border crossers. 176 unlawful border crossers, including families, unaccompanied youngsters, and single individuals, were apprehended by troopers on December 1.

Troopers detained 85 individuals, including 11 Afghan SIAs, for criminal trespassing. DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez said the other adults who were detained were unmarried and came from Venezuela, Ecuador, Cuba, Colombia, Brazil, and El Salvador.

In Maverick County, authorities captured a group of 289 shortly after Thanksgiving. There were seven Iranian SIAs among them. He said all were turned over to Border Patrol.

The Center Square reports that the Texas DPS has expressed worries on a rise in SIA arrests. The majority of recent arrests have included personnel from other nations, including Iran, which the US State Department has classified as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.

According to The Center Square, DPS has also captured SIAs from Egypt, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Mali, and Turkey.

After cartel members transport individuals from Piedras Negras, Mexico, across the Rio Grande River, the bulk are being captured in Maverick County, which has important crossing locations close to Eagle Pass.

SIAs are defined by the US Department of Homeland Security as noncitizens who are known or assessed to potentially have a connection to terrorism and represent a risk to US national security based on an examination of their travel patterns.

Additionally, Texas DPS officers are actively hunting down human traffickers and saving minors.

A 23-year-old Guatemalan mother in Hidalgo County paid a smuggler to cross the border with her 5-year-old kid.

She recounts how they were abandoned in the brush after making two attempts to cross in a video interview with a trooper.

A group of people can be seen walking up the riverbank and crossing the river on a raft in the DPS drone footage. The video shows that no Border Patrol officers, law enforcement, or barricades are present to stop unauthorized access.

A Mexican national who was also in the country illegally met them in Texas. He was supposed to transport them farther into the country, but he failed, and the mother and child ended up in the brush. The toddler was covered in thorns from the cactus.

Despite being captured by troopers, the driver was arrested, jailed, and charged with people smuggling by Border Patrol officials. Additionally, the child received treatment for his wounds.

According to the mother, troopers found out that a family member in California had paid a smuggling group to get them across the border and ultimately to California.

In a coordinated operation with the Border Patrol, DPS troopers in Mission, Hidalgo County, arrested three illegally entering Mexican nationals after Thanksgiving.

They were getaways, individuals who broke into countries between ports of entry to avoid being apprehended. One was a coyote who was paid to assist them in breaking in and evading detention; the other two had cartel wristbands and were smuggled.

The coyote was taken into custody and accused of smuggling people by troopers. The others were turned over to the Border Patrol.

In another instance, troopers rescued a 5-year-old girl in Val Verde County after being smuggled across the border.

The interdiction began after a trooper stopped the driver of a Ram 1500 on Veterans Boulevard in downtown Del Rio.

During the traffic stop, the trooper noticed that the child in the back seat matched the description of one being smuggled across the border caught in a border surveillance video.

The footage appears to show a man holding the child while running across a shallow riverbed of the Rio Grande River not far from the traffic stop.

A female Mexican national inside the vehicle who has temporary resident status and lives in North Carolina told the trooper she was the child s mother. She also said she found a smuggling organization online and paid $8,000 to have the child smuggled across the border.

Troopers arrested and charged the smuggler, a Mexican national and permanent resident in the U.S. He confessed he was going to be paid $1,000 to smuggle the child.

The woman and child were turned over to Border Patrol. However, DPS is conducting a follow up investigation in pursuing charges against the mother upon review by the District Attorney s Office, Olivarez said.

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