Texas National Guard soldier accused of attempting to smuggle illegal alien across border: 'I am so stupid'



A Texas National Guard soldier admitted that he demonstrated a serious lapse in judgment after officials reportedly caught him attempting to smuggle an illegal alien across the southern border in a government-issued SUV that also had a weapon inside.

Just before 4 p.m. last Sunday, an unidentified Texas National Guard soldier was arrested in or near Kinney County, Texas, after the government vehicle he had been driving at some point also carried a passenger suspected of being an illegal immigrant, according to reporting from Ali Bradley, a NewsNation journalist covering the southern border.

Law enforcement became suspicious after the soldier quickly "turned around when he approached a pop-up tactical Border Patrol checkpoint off 674 in Kinney County that had only been operational for a few days," Bradley wrote, citing Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe. Agents with the Texas Department of Public Safety then began pursuing the vehicle and ultimately brought it to a stop using spike strips.

After the driver, who was wearing street clothes, had been extricated from the vehicle, the officers on the scene seemed to sense immediately that they'd stumbled upon a sensitive case involving one of their own. When examining various cards ostensibly removed from the driver's wallet, several officials try to determine the driver's military affiliation.

"National Guard? State Guard?" one officer asks.

"He said Army," another replies.

The officer whose bodycam footage Bradley shared sighs heavily throughout the video. When the driver alerts him that there is a weapon inside the vehicle, the officer exclaims, "Oh, you got a weapon in the vehicle, too? Jesus Christ, man!" The presence of the weapon "escalated the smuggling charge," Bradley reported, though the exact charges against the driver remain unclear.

When asked why he had attempted to evade police, the driver states that he was "very scared." As he is placed in handcuffs, he adds, "Man, I am so stupid."

"Yeah, you are f***ing stupid, man," another officer quickly retorts.

— (@)

No other individual appears to have been in the vehicle at the time the driver was arrested. However, multiple officers reported having seen at least one person "bail[] out," likely from the vehicle in question. "I saw the one on the fence," one officer stated.

Another brief exchange caught on the video indicated that a "Hispanic male" had been spotted in connection with the vehicle, but most of the details of that conversation are inaudible.

According to Bradley, the driver had allegedly been "promised" somewhere between $5,000 and $6,000 to smuggle the alleged illegal alien. The driver was reportedly deployed to Eagle Pass, Texas, from McAllen as part of Operation Lone Star, an initiative from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to deter illegal border crossings. The incident remains under investigation by the Texas DPS.

Both Bradley and Newsweek reached out to Abbott's office and the Texas DPS for comment, and Newsweek made an additional request for comment from the Kinney County Sheriff's Office as well. It appears that none of these offices or agencies have yet replied.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Gov. Abbott celebrates success of Operation Lone Star, citing significant declines in illegal alien encounters



The Biden administration has worked hard to hinder the Lone Star State's efforts to fend off invading waves of foreign nationals. In recent weeks, the Democratic administration has fought in the courts to prevent Texas from enforcing Senate Bill 4, which makes illegal entry into Texas a misdemeanor offense and enables state law enforcement officials to send illegal aliens packing.

Fortunately, Texas has other arrows in its quiver — some of which appear to have been thinning the waves of migrants encountered at the border.

Early Wednesday morning, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott highlighted recent indications that "Operation Lone Star is working."

The governor cited a recent Media Research Center report indicating that the number of encounters of illegal aliens at the border dropped by 28% between October 2023 and last month — from 560,920 to 406,458.

The report was referencing U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, indicating that there were steep declines in four of the Lone Star State's five Border Patrol sectors between the last five months and the same period in fiscal year 2023. El Paso saw a 46.8% decline; Big Bend, a 65.1% decline; Laredo, a 38.1% decline; and the Rio Grande Valley, a 22.6% decline.

The Del Rio sector saw less significant year-over-year decline in encounters of 5.7%. However, that number is likely to improve since the state took control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, where the Biden administration previously failed to prevent multitudes of illegal aliens stealing into the country.

Texas has since installed razor wire, fencing, and shoreline barriers in the area, reducing the number of unlawful entries by 41.2% in January and by 38.5% as compared with the same months in the previous fiscal year.

Meanwhile, sectors in Democrat-run states saw massive spikes. For instance, the San Diego sector saw a 76.1% increase in encounters. Tucson, Arizona, saw a 167.2% spike in illegal alien encounters at its southern border.

Newsweek noted that Kari Lake, presently running in Arizona for the U.S. Senate, previously attributed the surge at Arizona's border to the success of Texas' border control efforts.

"Because Greg Abbott is now working to secure the border in Texas, we're seeing an influx of people pouring across our border even more so than we had in previous months," Lake said in January. "The Tucson sector is being overrun with people from 168 different countries."

Abbott is evidently pleased with this turn of events, at least as it pertains to the well-being of his state and its inhabitants.

"Illegal crossings are going down in TX while at the same time they are skyrocketing in CA & AZ," wrote Abbott. "It's b/c of the border wall, razor wire barriers, the National Guard & arrests by DPS."

Abbott and the Texas Department of Public Safety launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021. Abbott said at the time, "Texas supports legal immigration but will not be an accomplice to the open-border policies that cause, rather than prevent, a humanitarian crisis in our state and endanger the lives of Texans. We will surge the resources and law enforcement personnel needed to confront this crisis."

The governor's office indicated on the third anniversary of Operation Lone Star earlier this month that the multi-agency effort has resulted in over 503,000 illegal alien apprehensions; 40,400 criminal arrests; 36,100 felony charges; and the seizure of 469 million lethal doses of fentanyl.

While Texas cannot presently lawfully eject illegal aliens from the U.S., under Operation Lone Star, it has sent them packing to Democrat-run sanctuary cities around the country, including over 12,500 to Washington, D.C.; 39,100 to New York City; 32,200 to Chicago; 3,400 to Philadelphia; 16,600 to Denver; and 1,500 to Los Angeles.

Several hours after celebrating the apparent success of Texas' efforts to secure the border, Abbott announced that 200 soldiers in the Texas Tactical Border Force had been deployed to El Paso to "bolster Texas' ability to hold the line."

Nearly 200 soldiers in the Texas Tactical Border Force arrived in El Paso yesterday.\n\nThese soldiers will bolster Texas\u2019 ability to hold the line.\n\nTexas will continue to utilize all available resources and personnel to secure our border.
— (@)

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Dispatch From Eagle Pass: Biden Officials Won’t Enforce Laws But ‘Don’t Want Anyone Else To’ Either

Earlier this month, Mehlman saw the illegal immigration crisis firsthand at Eagle Pass, a south Texas city of about 28,000 people.

Texas Pays Huge Bus Fare Sending Migrants To Sanctuary Cities

Texas spent $124,603,616.19 busing more than 100,000 illegal immigrants

Here Are All The States Standing With Texas Against Biden’s Border Assault

Abbott knows Texas has a constitutional right to defend itself against the 10 million illegal migrants who took advantage of the open border.

Texas Stages More Border Security Theater With National Guard’s Eagle Pass Seizure

Border Patrol sources say the National Guard’s Shelby Park seizure doesn’t stop illegal border crossers from coming into the U.S.

Texas seizes riverfront park in Eagle Pass to curb onslaught of illegal aliens



Texas seized control of a 47-acre municipal park in Eagle Pass Wednesday evening under an emergency declaration from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in an effort to stem the flood of illegal aliens into the state. Shelby Park, which was previously privatized as part of Operation Lone Star, adjoins a high-traffic portion of the Rio Grande where Abbott deployed his floating wall to the Biden administration's chagrin.

Along with the public and illegal aliens, federal Border Patrol agents are not permitted to enter the park except to remove their remaining equipment and supplies.

"As caravans of migrants are moving through Mexico toward the U.S. border, we are making clear that Texas will be a tough place to cross," Abbott said Thursday evening.

The move came one month after the renewal of Abbott's May 2021 border disaster declaration and just days after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas made the shocking admission that federal immigration authorities release over 85% of the illegal aliens they detain.

Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas noted in a video shared to Meta Wednesday evening that he received a call from Victor Escalon, South Texas regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, indicating the state planned to take "full control" of the park. Sure enough, Humvees rolled in just before midnight and state agents blocked entrances to the park, reported Texas Public Radio.

— (@)

"They tell me that the mission is to prevent undocumented people from crossing into Eagle Pass," Salinas said during a press conference Thursday. "That is not something that the city wanted, requested, asked for."

Under the direction of the DPS, Salinas reportedly signed an affidavit in June 2022 declaring Shelby Park his personal property, enabling the state to close the park to the public, to install defensive wire and obstacles along the riverbank, and to arrest illegal aliens caught skirting through.

While the Eagle Pass City Council voted in August 2023 to rescind the affidavit, wresting the park from Operation Lone Star and making it public once again, Salinas reinstated the authorization for the DPS one month later and signed a declaration of emergency over the migrant crisis.

Salinas indicated Thursday he was told that the state was taking control of the park "indefinitely" under the border disaster declaration.

Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze said in a statement obtained by The Hill, "Texas is holding the line at our southern border with miles of additional razor wire and anti-climb barriers to deter and repel the record-high levels of illegal immigration invited by President Biden's reckless open border policies. Instead of enforcing federal immigration laws, the Biden Administration allows unfettered access for Mexican cartels to smuggle people into our country."

"Texas will continue to deploy Texas National Guard soldiers, DPS troopers, and more barriers, utilizing every tool and strategy to respond to President Biden's ongoing border crisis," added Eze.

The Hill indicated Customs and Border Protection officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The National Border Patrol Union said in a statement obtained by Fox News' Bill Melugin, "Governor Abbott is not harming Border Patrol operations, he is enhancing them. His seizing control of Shelby Park allows our agents to deploy to troubled spots that experience high numbers of gotaways. Governor Abbott’s actions should be seen as a force multiplier."

The Texas Military Department stated, "The Texas National Guard has maintained a presence with security points and temporary barrier in Shelby Park since 2021. The current posture is to prepare for future illegal immigrant surges and to restrict access to organizations that perpetuate illegal immigrant crossings in the park and greater Eagle Pass area."

Over 300,000 illegal aliens stole into the U.S. in December, the highest monthly tally on record, reported CBS News. Not including border crossings this month or the multitudes of migrants whose entries have already gone unreported, that puts the total for this fiscal year at over 800,000.

2.47 million, 2.37 million, and 1.73 million illegal aliens entered the United States in fiscal years 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Texas House Passes Major Border Security Package

'There is nothing unfair about ordering someone back,' said David Spiller, the bill's sponsor

Texas has sent over 50,000 illegal aliens to Democrat-run cities and shows no signs of letting up



Since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, Texas has faced an unprecedented influx of illegal aliens — what Gov. Greg Abbott has officially declared an "invasion."

As waves of migrants crashed upon the Lone Star State without cessation, Democrat-run states and cities kept up their pro-illegal migration rhetoric, more or less inviting foreign nationals to flout the laws of the land.

Ever since Texas began busing illegal aliens to these so-called sanctuaries in April 2022, that rhetoric has been put to the test and, in some cases, proven hollow.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced Friday that as part of Operation Lone Star, Texas has bused over 50,000 illegal aliens to so-called sanctuary cities.

According to the governor's office, the state has bused:

  • Over 12,500 migrants to Washington, D.C., since April 2022;
  • Over 18,500 migrants to New York City since August 2022;
  • Over 13,500 migrants to Chicago since August 2022;
  • Over 3,100 migrants to Philadelphia since November 2022;
  • Over 3,200 migrants to Denver since May 18; and
  • Over 940 migrants to Los Angeles since June 14.

According to Axios, it has taken Texas roughly 1,130 buses to get these migrants to their blue destinations.

Having been exposed to just a fraction of what Texas has withstood, various sanctuary cities have buckled.

TheBlaze reported Tuesday that the executive director for Denver's Office of Emergency Management recently sent a letter to various Texas officials asking that they provide illegal aliens with flyers stressing that the Democrat-run sanctuary city is no longer able to provide shelter and other resources to future waves of border-jumpers.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams, who has admitted that the influx of illegal aliens under Biden "will destroy New York City," tried something similar at the border this year. Since his flyer campaign accomplished little in the way of precluding multitudes of additional migrants joining the over 100,000 that have already poured into NYC in recent months, Adams headed to Latin America last week in hopes of dissuading additional migrants from making their way north.

D.C. is similarly having troubles living up to its sanctuary promise. Its Democratic mayor deemed the influx of migrants a crisis last year, declared a state of emergency, and called on the National Guard for assistance. The District has since spent tens of millions of dollars to address the arrival of migrants bused in by Texas, reported the Washington Examiner.

As for Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson's Chicago, migrants are piling into police stations, lobbies, and makeshift camps because all of the shelters intended for American citizens are full, reported the New York Times.

"We don't have any place for them to go," said Cristina Pacione-Zayas, deputy chief of staff for Johnson. "We are scrambling."

Andrew Vasquez, chairman of the city's Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said, "It's a logistical nightmare. ... You're going to see more people on the street figuring out a way to survive."

Housing and feeding the migrants in Chicago alone is expected to cost the city at least $345 million in under less than a year and a half.

According to the Times, the sanctuary city of Los Angeles is not having comparable difficulties, in part because it's too expensive for many illegal migrants to stay. Those who stick around can count on the already massive illegal alien population to provide a support network.

On Sept. 22, Abbott announced the deployment of additional buses to Eagle Pass and El Paso to help share their burden with Democrat-run cities.

"Texas communities like Eagle Pass and El Paso should not have to shoulder the unprecedented surge of illegal immigration caused by President Biden’s reckless open border policies. I have directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to deploy additional buses to send these migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities and provide much-needed relief to our overrun border towns," said the governor. "Until President Biden upholds his constitutional duty to secure America’s southern border, Texas will continue to deploy as many buses as needed to relieve the strain caused by the surge of illegal crossings."

Axios noted that Abbott's initiative has successfully prompted Democratic leaders to increase pressure on the Biden administration to act on the border.

In his Friday announcement, Abbott indicated Texas has also apprehended over 473,900 illegal aliens since the launch of Operation Lone Star, made over 34,800 criminal arrests, and issued over 31,800 felony charges.

TheBlaze previously reported that September 2023 appears to have set an all-time record for illegal border crossings.

Between October 2022 and August 2023, over 2.2 million migrants stole into the country, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The previous fiscal year, another 2.3 million entered.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Texas National Guardsman patrolling border dies by suicide, and Beto O'Rourke wastes no time before playing politics



A Texas National Guardsman patrolling the southern United States border tragically died by suicide on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, Democrat Beto O'Rourke, who is running for governor of Texas, seized on the incident to take an implicit potshot at Gov. Greg Abbott (R).

What are the details?

The solider was assigned to Operation Lone Star, a border security mission that became necessary last year because of the ongoing border crisis.

The National Guardsman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head around 8:20 a.m., according to military documents obtained by the Army Times. The incident took place in Eagle Pass, a border town situated on the front lines of the border crisis.

In a statement, Abbott said he was "deeply saddened" to hear of the soldier's passing.

"Our hearts go out to the family and loved ones of the soldier," the statement said. "Texas Rangers are leading the investigation, as the Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety coordinate with local law enforcement. I ask all Texans to join Cecilia and me in praying for the soldier’s family during this heartbreaking time."

The Texas Tribune noted that the soldier's death is unfortunately the fifth suicide linked to Operation Lone Star and the 10th overall National Guardsman death connected to the mission.

Last year, four troops died by suicide over the span of just eight weeks, prompting an investigation.

More from the Texas Tribune:

When the first suicides linked to Operation Lone Star occurred last year, troops on the mission were struggling through pay problems and poor living conditions. Many were also dissatisfied with the large-scale involuntary activations that were required to meet Gov. Greg Abbott’s troop quotas, according to surveys of the mission’s troops obtained by Army Times and the Tribune.

What did O'Rourke say?

In his statement reacting to the news, O'Rourke took a shot at Abbott by claiming Texas National Guardsmen are being used as "political pawns," referring to Operation Lone Star.

"I'm so sorry to hear that a tenth Texas National Guard member has lost their life while deployed under Operation Lone Star," O'Rourke said.

"My thoughts are with his family, community, and the members of the Guard who served all of us alongside him," he added. "They should never be used as political pawns."

\u201cI'm so sorry to hear that a tenth Texas National Guard member has lost their life while deployed under Operation Lone Star. \n\nMy thoughts are with his family, community, and the members of the Guard who served all of us alongside him. They should never be used as political pawns.\u201d
— Beto O'Rourke (@Beto O'Rourke) 1664903240

The soldiers, however, are not being used as political pawns.

Rather, Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021 because the Biden administration was failing to adequately respond to the flood of migrants crossing the southern border despite immigration being the responsibility of the federal government.

Operation Lone Star appears to be needed because, since it was launched, a record number of migrants have come into the U.S., which has resulted in a record number of migrant deaths.