Texas Department of Public Safety troopers have captured a member of the Paisa gang—an independent drug trafficking organization.
40-year-old Jesus Alejandro is an illegal alien from Mexico who was confirmed to be a member of the gang. He was apprehended along with two other teenage smugglers.
One of the two teenage smugglers is named Sebastian Garcia, 17. The other was aged 16.
The trio was apprehended in Sullivan City by the DPS brush team, who were conducting an anti-smuggling operation with the U.S. Border Patrol. They had previously guided a group of illegal aliens across the Rio Grande in a river transport vehicle.
“Troopers disrupted the human smuggling attempt & arrested the trio for human smuggling,” DPS spokesman Chris Olivarez posted Wednesday on X. “The 16-year-old was jailed at a juvenile detention center. #USBP took custody of 4 illegal immigrants.”
This comes as both DPS and Border Patrol are continuing to crack down on criminal organizations, gangs, and human smuggling efforts. Last month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced new efforts to continue ongoing law enforcement operations against transnational criminal organizations.
CBP senior official Troy A. Miller will expand law enforcement’s drug-busting efforts across the southwest land border from El Paso to San Diego.
“These ruthless criminal organizations peddle chaos and profit from human suffering. They traffic illicit drugs into our country that make their way into our communities,” he said.
Yet, human smugglers seem to be developing new, innovative tactics for covertly transporting illegal aliens.
One such strategy is using locally stolen license plates to avoid detection. Oftentimes, plates are removed from residents’ cars that match those used in smuggling operations in certain towns—like Sabinal, located in Uvalde County in South Texas.
According to Sabinal Police Chief Jesus “Chuy” Reyes, when a smuggler pilots his vehicle sporting the stolen plates from the border into a major city such as Austin or Houston, swapped license plates mitigate suspicions. “We might still have vehicles here that people don’t know of,” he said. “They never check their license plates,” he stated.
