POLICE: Migrant Smugglers Wreak Havoc on Texas County Highways near Border; Texas Ranchers Fight Human Smugglers for Their Legacy

POLICE: Migrant Smugglers Wreak Havoc on Texas County Highways near Border:

Law enforcement officers in Zavala County, Texas, had their hands full with high-speed pursuits, vehicle crashes, and the associated private property damage resulting from migrant smuggling activities during the first ten days of April. The small sheriff’s department in the county located 30 miles from the Rio Grande was involved in twenty-four such cases in the first ten days of the month.

Zavala County Chief Deputy Ricardo Rios told Breitbart Texas the dangerous human smuggling incidents are becoming more frequent as time goes by. “This is getting worse by the day,” Rios said. “Last month was bad, now it’s worse.”

The encounters often end when migrant smugglers crash vehicles after frequently lengthy pursuits on isolated farm-to-market roads and state highways traversing the county. The deputies, often working alone, are outnumbered by the occupants of the vehicles who flee into nearby ranches making arrests difficult. Often, the human smugglers and the migrants they are transporting elude apprehension.

Even though some suspects and migrants escaped, the damage done during the incident remains as a reminder of the consequences of the illicit activity on local property owners and residents who are growing frustrated with the situation.

The county experienced a surge in migrant smuggling in recent months, Breitbart Texas reported. Despite the overwhelming odds of eluding apprehension favoring the smugglers, the department managed to arrest ten human smugglers in the twenty-four incidents so far this month. Fourteen suspected smugglers managed to escape pursuing deputies. An untold number of migrants fled from the deputies. However, deputies arrested 50 migrants were arrested during the incidents. The migrants arrested according to Rios are subsequently turned over to Border Patrol agents. —:READ MORE HERE

Texas ranchers fight human smugglers for their legacy:

Zavala and Maverick County — In South Texas, land is a legacy. Here ranchers marry, raise a family, and take care of what they say is their gift from God, their land.

But now some ranchers here in Zavala and Maverick counties say their legacy is in danger.

Johnny and Priscilla Parsons have been married for 49 years. Johnny is from Crystal City and Priscilla is from Carrizo Springs. The Parsons’s land is part of their heritage from Johnny’s father whose family has been here since 1922.

Now they say their land, property, and cattle are being destroyed by human smugglers traveling from San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas to this area trying to make a dollar smuggling immigrants.

“You are very aware of the fact that there are people going to be walking, you don’t know what is going to jump out,” Johnny says.

“We have eight dogs out here. And I never wanted dogs in my house. But we have two dogs that stay in the house, just so we can sleep” said Priscilla Parsons.

The Parsons, like other ranchers, have surveillance cameras that range from basic surveillance to drones equipped with thermal cameras that pick up the heat created by persons hiding in the brush.

But the ranchers say technology may capture the images, but they don’t deter. The ranchers tell us, in Zavala and Maverick counties, deterrence is more prevalent in ranches that have the presence of certain human beings. Law enforcement agents, to be exact, live on the ranches for free as the courtesy officers do in apartment complexes in big cities. —>READ MORE HERE

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