Texas Border Business
EDINBURG, Texas – Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol (RGV) agents disrupted six migrant smuggling attempts resulting in 15 arrests.
Just after noon on March 30, a human smuggler in a Chevrolet pickup truck led a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) trooper on a vehicle pursuit originating in Los Ebanos. The suspect drove off-road, cross country and came to a stop, where multiple occupants bailed out. McAllen Border Patrol Station (MCS) agents responded. The abandoned vehicle sparked a fire causing multiple fire departments to respond in an attempt to extinguish the growing brush fire. Agents apprehended two uninjured migrants from Honduras in the area. After extensive efforts, Border Patrol was advised that the fire was extinguished.
Later that evening, MCS agents received information of a suspicious vehicle on the levee road near the Anzalduas Park in Mission. Agents responded to the area and located the vehicle. The vehicle came to a stop and the driver absconded prior to the agents’ initiating a vehicle stop. Agents searched the area and apprehended six subjects from Mexico and Honduras unlawfully in the U.S.
Just before midnight, Fort Brown Border Patrol Station agents received an anonymous tip about a Ford Explorer picking up possible non-citizens in Brownsville. Agents encountered the vehicle and attempted to conduct a vehicle stop. The driver of the Explorer continued driving and led agents on a vehicle pursuit. DPS was requested and joined the pursuit until the Explorer struck a fence near an elementary school, causing damage to approximately 20-feet of the fence. The driver, a Mexican national, was apprehended and was taking into custody by DPS to face state charges for evading arrest and property damage.
Shortly after midnight on March 31, RGV agents attempted to conduct a vehicle stop on a Ford F150 pickup truck near Rudolph. The truck immediately veered off the road and came to a stop. Agents observed multiple subjects abscond into the brush. Agents searched the area and apprehended three subjects unlawfully in the U.S. The driver was not located.
Less than an hour later, also in Rudolph, RGV agents observed a Chevrolet Silverado’s occupants bail out, after it drove through a closed ranch gate. The driver was not located.
About the same time, Kingsville Border Patrol Station agents attempted a vehicle stop on a Toyota Tundra south of the Javier Vega Jr. Border Patrol Checkpoint. The Tundra drove through a closed ranch gate and the occupants bailed out shortly after. Three migrants from El Salvador were apprehended. The driver was not located.
All subjects were processed accordingly.
