QUEMADO, Texas — Three Mexican nationals from Coahuila state crossed the Rio Grande River just north of the small border town of Quemado and headed north into Texas. After crossing U.S. Highway 277 between Eagle Pass and Del Rio, the migrants set off surveillance cameras that alerted Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, the Texas National Guard and U.S. Border Patrol agents. A manhunt was launched.
Breitbart Texas accompanied DPS Officer Jacqueline Gooding during a 12-hour patrol shift Thursday night. After a safety briefing, she left around 6 p.m. to monitor an area known for smuggling and illegal immigrant crossings. Gooding, along with other DPS officers and the Texas National Guard, are assigned to the area under Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star.
Texas State Police officers conduct a traffic stop near the Mexican border (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
After hours of traffic enforcement and searches for traffickers, a sensor alert popped up on her unit’s computer system at about 10 p.m. The system sends an alert to DPS officers, Texas National Guard and U.S. Border Patrol agents when it detects migrants passing through a surveillance area. The alert gives law enforcement teams the GPS location of the incursion.
Sensor attack near border (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
The alert showed the migrants walking in front of a camera at the ranch, where a trespassing alert had been issued, and Gooding noted that despite the current temperature being 98 degrees, the migrants appeared to be wearing clothing designed to hide their body heat signatures from drone and helicopter crews using infrared searching technology.
Migrants set off DPS sensors near the Texas-Mexico border (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
Officer Gooding, along with other police units, rushed to the area to search for the migrant and anyone else who may have been traveling with him. After a 10-minute drive, she was joined by several other officers, Texas National Guard troops and Border Patrol agents and prepared to enter the ranch where the sensors had gone off.
DPS officers, Texas National Guard and Border Patrol agents prepare to search for migrants attempting to evade arrest. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
Many ranchers in the Eagle Pass area of Texas cooperate with the Border Patrol by posting trespass warnings on their properties and give law enforcement permission to search their properties for migrants trying to cross into the US interior without being arrested.
The search has begun along canals and dirt roads leading from the Rio Grande, where they recently crossed. Officers believe there are three or four migrants on the run. At this point, they are about 20 minutes ahead of their last known location.
In addition to the ground teams, DPS officers flew two drones to assist in the search. Their mission was to locate the migrants and direct the ground team members to a smaller search area. Aerial searches were difficult due to the combination of heat-blocking clothing worn by migrants and the lack of temperature contrast between their body heat and the surrounding area. Officers intermittently found migrants and redirected the ground team to their locations.
Police are using drones to narrow the search area for fleeing immigrants. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
About an hour after the search began, a Texas DPS helicopter crew joined the search effort. Radio communication was established between the aircraft crew and ground teams to coordinate the search for the missing migrants, who were believed to have been hiding in undergrowth and had stopped moving.
“There are sensors in the area that would have been triggered if they had continued to move,” explained one of the officers piloting the drone. “We think we’ve got them, so now we just have to close in.”
A Border Patrol dog team picked up the scent and began pursuing the migrants, and in a joint effort, search teams detained the three men just after midnight on Friday.
A DPS officer reads three arrested Mexican immigrants their rights during an arrest. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
The National Guard detained three men, who Border Patrol agents identified as Mexican nationals from the Mexican border state of Coahuila. The National Guard arrested the men and charged them with trespassing under state law.
Typically, trespassing in Texas is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a fine and/or up to 180 days in county jail. However, under the state of emergency declared by Governor Abbott, the charge may be increased one level to a Class A misdemeanor. If convicted, immigrants could face large fines and up to a year in county jail.
Officer Gooding explained that the initiative is aimed at punishing immigrants who enter the United States illegally.
“The situation is calmer than in recent months,” the officer said. “If we don’t keep up the pressure, we will see another surge in migrants crossing the border.”
The migrants were transported to a processing center in Del Rio, where they will be held pending the outcome of their criminal cases.
The border town of Quemado is located within the Del Rio Border Patrol jurisdiction between Eagle Pass and Del Rio, about one mile from the Rio Grande border with Mexico.
In a statement, the Texas Governor’s office said officials reported that “since the inception of Operation Lone Star, multi-agency efforts have resulted in the apprehension of more than 517,400 illegal immigrants, more than 45,900 criminal arrests and more than 39,800 indictments for felonies.”
Bob Price Price is deputy editor and senior news contributor for Breitbart Texas Border Team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a reporter for Fox 26 Houston. What is your argument? Sunday Morning He also serves as chairman of the talk show. Blue Wonder Cancer Care Products.
