Human smugglers arrested at U.S.-Mexico border, recently many are from Houston

Houston - Law enforcement near the U.S.-Mexico border is noticing a large amount of human smugglers from out of state and major cities across Texas.

"We are being invaded," said Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe. "Hundreds or thousands of people a month are pouring through my county."

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Kinney County is home to about 3,000 Texans. In February, Kinney County deputies had at least 38 pursuits in 28 days.

Cartel members are using rural Texas roads as personal playgrounds. Oftentimes, they reportedly stuff illegal immigrants and drugs in the back of cars.

"They don’t care if the migrants live or die," said Chief Jason Owens from U.S. Border Patrol’s Del Rio Sector. "They’re moving their product from one distribution point to another."

Surveillance photos shared with FOX 26 show migrants trespassing on private ranches in Kinney County wearing backpacks and camouflage. In addition, a majority of the migrants appear to be single adult men. 

"We don’t know what they’re bringing in," said Sheriff Coe. "We don’t know who they are."

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"When we don’t have that accountability by people coming in at a designated port of entry, that’s when we start to see dangerous narcotics, like fentanyl," said Chief Owens. "Or, human traffickers or violent felons that make their way into the communities."

In February, Kinney County deputies apprehended nearly 100 human smugglers. Of the smugglers captured, a majority were from Houston. According to Sheriff Coe, roughly 40% of the human smugglers they caught in February were from Houston.

"Social media is where they’re making all of the connections," said Coe. "These pin drops, which when the iPhones first came out, were great. Now, they’re using it for illegal means."

"A lot of these [smugglers] are just your average person on social media that can be a young adult, that sees the advertisement, and it looks like an easy pay day," said Owens.

Last summer, one of the deadliest human smuggling events in U.S. history occurred near San Antonio.  53 migrants were found dead inside a trailer. The alleged driver from that case was from the Houston area.

"We’ve been shocked to see the number of Texans, Texas residents and citizens, who are helping the cartels by driving vehicles [and] transporting illegal immigrants," said Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

"It’s not a Republican thing, it’s not a Democrat thing, it’s a United States thing," said Coe. "If they want to be here, fine, I’m all for legal immigration. The problem is, they’re being smuggled in for an outrageous amount of money, and they’ll never be able to pay it back."

In one week following our visit to Kinney County, deputies located 24 migrants in just four of their traffic stops. All four of the drivers were from the Houston area and arrested for human smuggling.