MCALLEN, Texas ̶̶ As part of the South Texas Campaign (STC), U.S. Customs and Border Protection has brought in additional resources and more than 100 Border Patrol agents to the Rio Grande Valley Sector to assist with the targeted enforcement efforts against transnational criminal organizations.
Utilizing a flexible and unified workforce, the STC is mobilizing resources to supplement the manpower currently in the Rio Grande Valley. In addition to personnel already deployed in from Laredo Sector, agents and vehicles have been temporarily reassigned from California and Arizona. This risk-based approach enhances enforcement efforts and aims to disrupt and degrade criminal organizations that are responsible for smuggling illegal immigrants and drugs throughout the South Texas Corridor.
Through a whole-of-government approach that integrates the intelligence-gathering and targeting capabilities of its law enforcement and governmental partners the STC has identified multiple subjects for arrest.
“The subjects we’ve identified are key players in the illicit networks that facilitate the majority of illegal cross-border activity in the area,” CBP South Texas Commander Robert L. Harris said. “These groups prey on illegal aliens by extorting money, confining them in deplorable conditions, and often physically and sexually assaulting them.”
South Texas Campaign operations serve to support the integration of investigative and operational capabilities of multiple law enforcement agencies, taking full advantage of the strengths of the entire law enforcement community in South Texas, to have the greatest impact possible on criminal networks.
Arresting and working in partnership to prosecute those most responsible for illicit activity in the Rio Grande Valley will significantly deny these criminal groups the ability to operate in the South Texas Corridor, improving overall border security and ensuring safe and secure South Texas border communities.