Human Smuggling

Trend of Armed Human Smuggler Arrests Continues in Texas near Border

Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents arrested another armed human smuggler in South Texas near the Rio Grande border with Mexico. Del Rio Sector agents patrolling Val Verde Road near the Mexican border with Texas attempted to stop a 2004 GMC Yukon SUV. As the vehicle stopped, about 16 people bailed out of the vehicle and fled on foot toward the Rio Grande, according to information provided by Del Rio Sector Border Patrol officials. Joined by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations aircrew, Border Patrol agents arrested the two U.S. citizen human smugglers and one of the Mexican illegal aliens before they could get to the river. Officials said the remainder of the group made it into the river and crossed back into Mexico. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Del Rio Sector Foreign Operations Branch contacted the Mexican government and provided the location of the illegal crossing. Mexican law enforcement responded and rounded up the migrants. Mexican authorities turned them over to civil services in Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, for processing. Agents searched the SUV and found a loaded .380 caliber Ruger pistol. They also found drug paraphernalia. A records check on the driver identified him as a 24-year-old U.S. citizen with a criminal record for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The smugglers now face a felony charge under 8 USC 1324, alien smuggling. They could also face a federal charge for being a felon in possession of a firearm. “With effective cooperation between our law enforcement partners, our reach to disrupt their dangerous activities is greatly enhanced.” Del Rio Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Doyle E. Amidon Jr. said in a written statement. “Collaboration continues to be an invaluable key to our success in capturing these dangerous criminals.” Under coronavirus protection protocols put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Mexican illegal alien will likely be returned to his home country after clearing a medical screening and criminal background check.

This sorta thing is happening EVERY day in Texas, California, and other states on our border with Mexico.  It is just another reason (we’ve documented so many) why it is absolutely critical that we BUILD THE WALL NOW!!!….and put U.S. Army National Guard troops physically ON the border, until that wall/fence is finally built, above and below ground to prevent tunneling, etc.  Securing our southern border needs to be our federal government’s #1 domestic national security priority.  Period.  The Trump Administration is making big strides.  But, it’s nowhere near enough.

Democrats Offer Plan to Release All Child Traffickers at Border into U.S.

The House Democrats’ first offer to President Trump in negotiations to fund his proposed United States-Mexico border wall includes a provision that would end all immigration enforcement for migrants trafficking children across the southern border. The draft budget provides the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency with $7.4 billion, nearly $850 million less than requested by the Trump administration, and funds only 1,250 beds for adults and migrant children coming across the border this year, a decrease in detention space. Attached to that funding, though, is an immigration enforcement ban first introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and supported by every Senate Democrat. The Democrats’ offer demands that all immigration enforcement end for any adult crossing the border with a child by the end of Fiscal Year 2019. Rather than being held in detention for a period of time, those adults and the migrant children they trafficked across the U.S.-Mexico border would be released immediately into the interior of the country. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) previously called the plan the “Child Trafficking Encouragement Act” as it ensures that adults bringing children to the southern border would gain immediate access into the U.S. without fear of being deported or turned away. The number of adult illegal aliens arriving at the southern border with children has continued surging under Trump. The latest Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data reveals the number of adults crossing the border with children has skyrocketed 280 percent compared to the same time last year. Last year, the U.S. saw a record number of adult border crossers coming to the U.S. with children. This year, if border reforms are not implemented, DHS officials expect to break last year’s record. As of December 2018, overall illegal immigration is up 81 percent compared to the same time last year. As Breitbart News reported, the House Democrat offer does not include any money to construct a wall, much less a barrier, at the U.S.-Mexico border but it does provide about $502 million for “humanitarian concerns,” funding that illegal aliens and border crossers would have access to in the form of food, transportation, medical care, and housing.

State Department Takes Strongest Steps Yet to Combat Human Trafficking Abroad

Human trafficking, a form of modern slavery, has existed for thousands of years and is still a serious problem in many countries throughout the world, particularly with the resurgence of extremist groups like the Islamic State (ISIS). This year’s Trafficking in Persons’ Report, released by the State Department, is arguably stronger than it has been in previous years and is providing renewed hope for non-profits that are seeking to end these heinous crimes against humanity. Kari A. Johnstone, Acting Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP) at the State Department told Breitbart News, in an email, that since the report was first published in 2001, it has been the organization’s “principal diagnostic tool to assess government efforts across what we call the three Ps of prosecuting traffickers, protecting and empowering victims, and preventing future trafficking crimes.” She noted that many countries are taking steps to address the trafficking conditions in their nations and the “TIP Report offers concrete recommendations for improvements for every country in the book. The recommendations serve as a country-specific roadmap to better combat trafficking, to make real institutional change that can put more traffickers behind bars, better find and assist victims, and prevent exploitation of the vulnerable.” Approximately 40 million people in the world today are in modern slavery. And an additional 152 million children are in child slavery. One of the most troubled countries with the human trafficking issue is Iraq, which has been on TIP’s Tier 2 watchlist for the second year in a row. While trafficking had existed in Iraq before the conflict there, the presence of ISIS has only exacerbated it. The State Department noted in its report, “The Government of Iraq does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.” TIP also reported that Iran, which is listed as a Tier 3 country for trafficking, “is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor” and noted that “Iranian women, boys, and girls are vulnerable to trafficking in Iran, Afghanistan, the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR), Pakistan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Europe.” The Iraq government passed an anti-trafficking law in 2012. According to the State Department, “The government also established an anti-trafficking department in the interior ministry, which collected human trafficking law enforcement data and operated the newly established anti-trafficking hotline.” Currently, the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) is looking at passing its own anti-trafficking law, and the United States has been very supportive in the fight against human trafficking. One NGO (Non-Governmental Organization), based out of Iraqi-Kurdistan has been on the front lines of this effort and helping to rehabilitate victims of human and sex trafficking, particularly victims of the Islamic State. The SEED Foundation, which was started in 2015, began with a focus on Yazidi and other survivors of Daesh, or the Islamic State, including rehabilitating victims of the jihadist group’s sexual violence and exploitation and survivors of war, and child soldiers. SEED’s President and Executive Director Sherri Kraham Talabany praised this year’s TIP report…

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2 DACA recipients arrested over suspicion of human smuggling: report

Two Dreamers who were living in the U.S. under the Obama-era DACA program were arrested last week on suspicion of human smuggling in separate incidents, federal officials reportedly said. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Monday that one of the men was in the country under the program and the other’s program had expired. The report said that one incident occurred last Wednesday when a resident near Torrey Pines State Beach observed what looked like human smuggling. Border agents pulled over a vehicle and found the driver—who was the 20-year-old DACA recipient whose status expired. He reportedly admitted to smuggling after two Mexican nationals in the country illegally were found in the car. In a separate incident, a 22-year-old Mexican national, a DACA recipient who lives in Riverside, was allegedly caught scouting an area for smugglers in Campo, Calif. Both suspects are in custody.

Massive Cartel Human Smuggling Ring Busted in Texas

A 2-year investigation has resulted in the indictments of 29 people and 86 criminal charges relating to a cartel connected-human smuggling operation in South Texas. The investigation which began in Atascosa County, Texas, tied in a suspected human smuggling operation that stretched from the border to as far as San Antonio and Houston. Atascosa County, located around the town of Pleasanton about 40 miles south of San Antonio, became the focal point of the investigation as authorities uncovered a stash house where up to 250 illegal immigrants per month were being smuggled, information provided to Breitbart Texas by Atascosa County District Attorney Gene Peña revealed. “What we have today is the result of a two-year investigation that has now resulted in the indictments of 29 individuals,” Peña said..

Outstanding!  To read the rest of this article, click on the text above.

Illegal Aliens Busted in Cloned Border Patrol Vehicle

Human smugglers carrying 12 illegal aliens were captured north of Laredo in a cloned U.S. Border Patrol vehicle. The incident happened on Interstate 35 at mile marker 65 near the town of Cotulla. That would be located nearly seventy miles into Texas. A border patrol agent became suspicious of the cloned vehicle while he was following it, Border Patrol Agent Hector Garza told Breitbart Texas while acting in his capacity as president of the National Border Patrol Council, Local 2455. After stopping the suspicious vehicle the driver was arrested and the agent found 12 illegal aliens stuffed inside the Chevy Tahoe that had been painted with Border Patrol vehicle markings. “This shows the level of deviousness and desperation these smugglers will stoop to in order to deliver their cargo,” Garza said. “They will not stop. Whether they are smuggling drug, humans or terrorists, to them it is just about the money.” Garza said the 12 illegal aliens stuffed in a Tahoe shows the total disregard for human life these smugglers show towards the people they haul. “If this vehicle had become involved in a high-speed chase, it could have been catastrophic.” The vehicle was painted to look like a Tahoe regularly used by the U.S. Border Patrol. It did not have any overhead lights normally found on the vehicles. It did; however, have a light bar mounted on the dashboard and the rear view mirror had been removed. It appears the rear seats may have been removed in order to stuff more people into the vehicle. The cloned vehicle was stopped before reaching the Border Patrol station which is located north of Cotulla. The stop of the vehicle and subsequent arrest of the driver took place on Friday.

Seven Time Arrested Human Smuggler Caught Along Texas Border

Federal agents arrested a woman accused of trying to pick up a group of immigrants; she had been arrested previously seven different times on smuggling cases but had never been prosecuted.

These stories just keep coming.. I’m really not making this stuff up, or even looking that hard. Honest! And, I’ve been getting a little flack for saying that we desperately need to BUILD THE WALL NOW!!!…and put U.S. Army National Guard troops physically ON the border! And yet, for example, we see this lady who has been arrested SEVEN TIMES and never prosecuted for human smuggling. That’s insane!! The ONLY way to prevent this from continuing, is to BUILD THE WALL NOW!! And, I’ll continue to keep pounding the issue until our border with Mexico is secured…however long that takes.