Since March, the Texas Department of Public Safety has rerouted over 1,000 officers from their normal duties to the border when the number of people illegally passing from Mexico into the United States started to spike across the state. West Texas, usually the most peaceful place along the state's 1,250-mile shared border with Mexico, is being flooded with groups of people crossing, all of whom are attempting to avoid capture, law enforcement told the Washington Examiner.
Unlike the hundreds of thousands of families who crossed in the Rio Grande Valley this past year intending to surrender to agents and be released into the nation, the men coming over in West Texas are attempting not to get caught. They wear camouflage and sometimes attach carpet pieces to the bottom of their shoes to avoid leaving behind tracks.
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"I've personally never seen any numbers like we've been seeing. It's definitely an increase of activity," announced DPS officer Lt. Elizabeth Carter, who has been based in West Texas since she joined the department 12 years ago.
DPS in May sent vehicles and personnel to help Border Patrol because so many migrants, primarily men, were coming across remote areas that federal agents were struggling to halt. A lot of Border Patrol agents have been pulled from Big Bend to assist in hard-hit areas, Yuma, Arizona, and Del Rio, Texas, as illegal immigration spiked after President Joe Biden took office to hit a level never witnessed at any time in the Border Patrol's century-long existence.
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On top of the temporary Border Patrol staffing drop, Louisiana National Guard soldiers assigned to West Texas were recently pulled, leaving more gaps in operations.
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As other states were required to pull out the National Guard due to financial constraints, places like West Texas faced a greater need for reinforcement. DPS sent in reinforcements in early summer, including a helicopter and aircrew who go up every day, seeking groups that Border Patrol agents think have been detected. Other state troopers man Interstate 10 and Highway 90, the most popular routes for migrants who have made the long journey by foot through the mountains and desert from the border. DPS shares its knowledge with the Border Patrol and turns migrants over to federal agents for processing or arrest.
Statewide, DPS has arrested 9,100 people on criminal charges since March, which involves human smugglers who pick up the migrants once they make it to a highway, as well as migrants with criminal convictions. DPS has seized 77,500 migrants who came across the border and transferred them to Border Patrol custody.
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