(news nation) — Texas National Guard soldiers deployed to Eagle Pass as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Starwas arrested Sunday on suspicion of attempting to smuggle migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed in a statement to NewsNation that Savion Johnson, 26, was charged with evading arrest, human smuggling, and unlawful possession of a weapon.
Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe said the trooper turned around as he approached a temporary Border Patrol checkpoint on Highway 674. The checkpoint had been in operation for several days.
The act was reported to investigators, who attempted to stop the SUV. Texas DPS officers used spike strips to stop the vehicle.
kinney county sheriffDeputies arrived to assist in the arrest, at which point the trooper was removed from the vehicle to be searched.
Illegal immigrant authorities said the soldier fled from the SUV when police intercepted him while trying to transport him, but he eventually turned himself in for processing by Border Patrol agents.
Officials said Mr. Johnson was promised a reward of $5,000 to $6,000, but was denied access to a license plate reader or other technology that could aid his efforts. But authorities say the smuggling charges were upgraded because he had a weapon.
“We don’t know what’s going on in their lives that causes them to behave this way,” Koh said. “But they will be caught.”
Two other women were previously arrested along the same road in Kinney County on similar human smuggling charges.
“If the allegations are true, the defendant is a traitor and a criminal,” Abbott said in a statement to NewsNation on Monday. “We have zero tolerance for Texans who violate laws that directly contradict the mission we seek to accomplish.”
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