The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has arrested several illegal aliens who were wanted on charges including heinous crimes against children.
In just the past few weeks, the Texas DPS has arrested foreign criminals for horrific crimes such as child rape.
In Laredo, Texas, DPS arrested a Honduran national wanted for sexual assault in Harris County.
The foreign criminal was caught during a traffic stop conducted as part of Operation Lone Star.
The stop happened when a DPS trooper pulled over a 2011 International tractor-trailer for a traffic violation just after 7 am on February 12.
Once the truck came to a stop, the driver and several passengers fled and ran off toward the brush, DPS said.
With the help of additional agencies, seven illegal aliens and the driver of the truck were found and taken into custody.
The driver was identified as 49-year-old Junior Adalid Montoya-Alvarez.
DPS said Montoya-Alvarez is a Honduran national with lawful permanent status.
He was arrested for human smuggling at the time.
However, it was later discovered that he was wanted in Harris County for sexual assault.
The seven illegal aliens who were taken into custody were from Guatemala and Mexico and, according to DPS.
The illegals were referred to Border Patrol.
The day before, 26-year-old Carols Daniel Espinoza-Arguello, a criminal illegal immigrant from Venezuela, was apprehended by DPS agents and state troopers in Socorro.
Espinoza-Arguello was pulled over for suspected human smuggling.
An investigation discovered Espinoza-Arguello was wanted by DPS for sexual assault of a child.
He was arrested and booked into the El Paso County Jail.
Espinoza-Arguello’s arrest ultimately led to a stash house nearby.
At the house, two illegal aliens, also from Venezuela, were taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
A DPS trooper also pulled over a 1999 Dodge pickup truck on February 6 for a traffic violation in Sullivan City.
After performing a warrant check, the trooper determined that the passenger, 40-year-old Armando Alonso-Cortez, was a criminal illegal alien from Mexico.
DPS said Alonso-Cortez was wanted by the Alton Police Department for raping a child.
He was also considered a flight risk, DPS added.
Alonso-Cortez was arrested on the spot and handed over to the Alton Police Department.
Operation Lone Star was started under Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021.
Since its inception, the operation has resulted in the apprehension of more than half a million illegal aliens.
It has also stopped more than 140,000 illegal attempts to enter the U.S., made more than 50,000 criminal arrests, seized more than half a billion lethal doses of fentanyl, built more than 240 miles of border barriers, and established the only National Guard base along the Texas-Mexico border.
In a letter to U.S. Congressional Members late last month, Abbott wrote:
“In short, Texas stepped up where the federal government refused and in doing so, protected all Americans from President Biden’s dangerous policies.”
Though he is proud of the operation, Abbott noted that its success came with a high price tag of more than $11.1 billion.
This huge bill has been, and continues to be, paid by Texas taxpayers when it “should have been the federal government’s responsibility,” Abbott noted.
In a document breaking down the costs, Abbott said that before the Biden administration, the state of Texas spent approximately $800 million every two years to supplement federal efforts at the border.
“The burden that our State has borne is a direct result of a refusal by the federal government to do its job,” Abbott wrote.
“The work that Texas has done through Operation Lone Star has protected and will continue to benefit the entire country.”
House Republicans have introduced bills in the past requesting Texas be reimbursed for the billions spent on border security.
However, legislation has never been passed.
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