EXCLUSIVE: 105K Migrants Intercepted by Texas National Guard near Border Under Operation Lone Star
DEL RIO, Texas — Texas National Guardsmen encountered approximately 105,000 migrants under Operation Lone Star. The soldiers and airmen also participated in “significant drug and weapons seizures.”
“The work each of our service members is doing is very important,” Texas Adjunct General Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris told Breitbart Texas. “Their presence along the border creates a significant deterrence to criminal activity along our southern border.”
The general’s comments to Breitbart followed a tour of Texas National Guard facilities and checkpoints in the Border Patrol’s Del Rio Sector.
“Whether serving at a security point, constructing a barrier, or providing logistic and administrative support, each of our Soldiers and Airmen is critical to the broader effort to bring safety to our local communities,” General Norris stated.
Breitbart Texas spoke with numerous soldiers and officers of the Texas National Guard during tours in Del Rio and Eagle Pass this week. The guardsmen repeatedly expressed their dedication to the mission.
“Our soldiers are making an impact,” one officer stated. “Even when they are not seeing illegal border crossings, they are having a deterrent effect and are moving the crossers to other locations where Border Patrol agents are present.”
General Norris offered the following:
Because of our service members’ outstanding work:
- Approximately, 105,000 illegal migrants have been apprehended or referred to our partner federal and state law enforcement agencies;
- More than 9,000 individuals, attempting to enter Texas illegally, have been returned to Mexico;
- Significant drug and weapon seizures have occurred, including the lethal drug fentanyl;
- And the ongoing construction of temporary barriers, including 10 miles of temporary barriers, with an additional 60 miles under construction contract, along the border is further deterring criminal activity.
Breitbart observed the progress of nearly two miles of border wall in the Eagle Pass area of operations. This is in addition to the rapid construction of miles of fencing designed to slow or deter migrants from crossing through the private property of landowners along the border.
“The impact of their work is incredible,” the Texas Military Department’s Adjunct General stated. “The latest reports indicate those who may be seeking illegal entry into the United States are now avoiding Texas border cities and redirecting their march toward other locations.”
In addition to apprehending migrants or referring them to other law enforcement agencies, the guardsmen are also saving lives along the border. One example occurred earlier this week when two guardsmen at a security checkpoint near Eagle Pass rescued a family of migrants who were drowning after getting caught in the swift currents of the Rio Grande, Breitbart reported.
“On January 31. 2022, around 5:50 am, a family of nine undocumented migrants, including several small children, attempted to cross the Rio Grande river on foot, near Eagle Pass, Texas,” Norris reported. “The family got caught in the current and began to drown. Upon seeing the family, two Texas National Guardsmen and a partner law enforcement officer immediately responded, risking their own lives, going into the river and successfully saving each person, bringing them ashore safely.”
These rescues occur on a regular basis with at least five other rescues in the past four months — just in Eagle Pass, she noted.
“I am so proud of each of our service members supporting Operation Lone Star,” General Norris concluded. “Regardless of their specific assignment within this mission, each of these Texas service members is making a tremendous impact on the safety and security of our state.”
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face
Biden Helps Illegal Alien, Accused of Killing Teen Girl, Evade Deportation
President Joe Biden’s so-called “sanctuary country” orders are helping an illegal alien, accused of killing a 19-year-old girl in Texas, evade deportation from the United States.
In November 2020, 19-year-old Adrienne Sophia Exum was allegedly hit and killed by Heriberto Fuerte-Padilla, an illegal alien from Mexico, in Harris County, Texas. According to police, Padilla was driving drunk at the time and was subsequently charged with fleeing the scene of the crash and drunk driving.
Stephen Dinan with the Washington Times now reports that Biden’s sanctuary country orders — where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are banned from arresting and deporting illegal aliens unless they meet narrow thresholds of criminality — are helping Padilla evade deportation from the U.S.
Dinan reports:
The Homeland Security Department initially said it wanted authorities to pick him up and deport him once Texas punished him, but then it changed its mind. Under rules issued in September by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Fuerte-Padilla doesn’t qualify as a priority anymore. [Emphasis added]
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also told Texas that it was canceling deportation requests — known as “detainers” — on other illegal immigrants, including some who pleaded guilty to felony charges of evading arrest or had convictions for drunken driving, drug possession or domestic assault injuring a family member. [Emphasis added]
Likewise, Biden is also helping illegal aliens Jose Godoy Vasquez of Guatemala and Nay Thar of Thailand evade deportation.
Vasquez has been convicted of drunk driving, domestic violence, and drug possession while Thar has convictions for drunk driving, drug possession, fleeing police, and secretly getting contraband into prison.
The revelations come as Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas bragged to elected officials that Biden’s sanctuary country orders are shielding most illegal aliens in the U.S. from arrest and deportation.
C-SPAN“Unlawful presence in the United States, alone, will not be a basis for immigration enforcement action … it is a matter of justice and equity as well,” Mayorkas said.
Throughout the last year, the orders successfully freed into the U.S. illegal aliens accused and convicted of child sex crimes, armed robbery, drunk driving, burglary, cocaine trafficking, grand theft auto, heroin trafficking, credit card fraud, money laundering, and other crimes.
As Breitbart News reported, DHS has failed to make public their annual report that details the number of illegal aliens arrested and deported by ICE agents throughout the prior 12 months. Former ICE officials have suggested that the agency is diligently trying to manipulate the data to make it harder to compare to past years of interior enforcement.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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