QUEMADO, Texas — Three Mexican nationals from the state of Coahuila crossed the Rio Grande and made their way north into Texas just north of the small border town of Quemado. After the migrants crossed U.S. Highway 277 between Eagle Pass and Del Rio, they tripped a surveillance camera, sending an alert to Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, Texas National Guard soldiers, and U.S. Border Patrol agents. The manhunt was underway.
Breitbart Texas rode along with DPS Trooper Jaclyn Gooding during her 12-hour patrol shift on Thursday night. With a safety briefing complete, we hit the road at about 6 p.m. to stake out areas known for human smuggling and illegal immigrant crossings. Gooding, along with other DPS troopers and members of the Texas National Guard, are assigned to the region under Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star border security mission.
Texas DPS Trooper Conducts a Traffic Stop near Mexican Border (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
Following a few hours of traffic stops and searching for human smugglers, a sensor alert popped up on her unit’s computer system at about 10 p.m. The system provides alerts to DPS troopers, Texas National Guard soldiers, and U.S. Border Patrol agents after detecting migrants moving through a monitored area. The alert gives the law enforcement team a GPS location for the incursion.
Sensor Hit near Border (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
The alert showed a migrant walking past the camera on a ranch that was posted with a criminal trespass warning. Gooding noted that despite the current 98-degree temperature, the migrant appeared to be wearing clothing designed to hide their heat signature from drones and helicopter crews using infrared search technology.
A migrant sets off a DPS sensor near the Texas-Mexico border (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
Trooper Gooding responded to the area to meet up with other law enforcement resources to search for the migrant and others who might be traveling with him. After the ten-minute trip, she joined several other troopers, a contingent of Texas National Guard soldiers, and Border Patrol agents as they prepared to enter the ranch where the sensor hit occurred.
DPS troopers, Texas National Guard soldiers, and Border Patrol agents prepare to search for the migrants attempting to avoid apprehension. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
Many Texas ranchers in the Eagle Pass area of operations cooperate with the border security mission by posting trespass warnings on their property. They also give law enforcement permission to search their property for migrants attempting to enter the U.S. interior without being apprehended.
The search began along a canal and dirt road leading away from the recently crossed Rio Grande. Troopers believe there are three to four migrants on the run. By this time, they have about a 20-minute head start from their last known position.
In addition to the ground team, DPS troopers launched two drones to aid in the search. Their job was to try to find the migrants and direct ground team members to a tighter search area. A combination of heat-masking clothing and the lack of contrast between body heat and the ambient temperature made the aerial search difficult. The troopers made off-and-on detections of the migrants and moved the ground team into position.
Troopers use drones to narrow the search area for the fugitive migrants. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
About an hour into the search, a Texas DPS helicopter crew joined the search effort. Radio traffic between the aircrew and ground teams coordinated the effort to find the missing migrants, who appeared to have stopped moving to hide in the brush.
“There are multiple sensors in the area that these guys would have set off if they continued moving,” one of the troopers operating a drone explained. “We think we have them pinned down and just need to close in at this point.”
Border Patrol K-9 teams picked up the scent and began tracking the migrants. The combined efforts paid off, and the search teams took three men into custody shortly after midnight Friday morning.
A DPS trooper reads the three arrested Mexican migrants their rights as they are placed under arrest. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
Troopers took custody of the three men, who Border Patrol agents identified as Mexican nationals from the border state of Coahuila. Troopers arrested the trio and charged them with the state crime of Criminal Trespass.
Under normal conditions, criminal trespass in Texas is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a fine and/or confinement of up to 180 days in a county jail. However, under the State of Emergency declared by Governor Abbott, the charges can be enhanced one level to a Class A misdemeanor. If convicted on the charges, the migrant could face a substantial fine and incarceration up to one year in a county jail.
Trooper Gooding explained the effort is designed to provide consequences to migrants illegally entering the U.S.
“Things are slower now than in recent months,” the trooper stated. “If we didn’t keep up the pressure, the migrant crossing surges would return.”
The migrants were transported to a processing center in Del Rio, where they will be held pending the outcome of their criminal proceedings.
The border town of Quemado is located in the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector between Eagle Pass and Del Rio. It is about a mile from the Rio Grande border with Mexico.
In a statement from the Office of the Texas Governor, officials reported, “Since the launch of Operation Lone Star, the multi-agency effort has led to over 517,400 illegal immigrant apprehensions and more than 45,900 criminal arrests, with more than 39,800 felony charges.”
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.