The Biden administration announced Operation Sentinel to disrupt transnational criminal organizations and human smugglers through targeted economic sanctions and involvement from partner countries.
Two Ecuadorian girls (aged 2 and 5) were dropped over the top of a 14-foot section of the border wall by a smuggler on March 30th. The children were taken to a CBP facility and then to a local hospital.
Restrictions of movement across the US- Mexico border have not significantly reduced drug trafficking, according to law enforcement officials from both countries. The restrictions caused a slight drop in drug flows at the beginning of the pandemic, but traffickers have since adjusted and flows have returned to normal levels.
Border Patrol agents seized a drone carrying 1 pound of methamphetamine that crashed onto a roof in San Diego. Drone smuggling has increased in recent years as the technology becomes cheaper and more accessible.
Caption: “Brutal bailout: #Laredo Sector #USBP agents attempted to pull over a truck with a livestock trailer that evaded checkpoint inspection on Hwy. 359. The driver later bailed out, leaving 37 aliens locked in the trailer.”
Caption: “Laredo Sector #USBP agents, working together w/ @webb_county sheriff’s office apprehended 26 aliens in deplorable conditions at a stash house in East Laredo.”
A consortium of journalists looked into the routes taken by migrants from outside Latin America. “We mapped the paths migrants take, the dangers they face, the political hurdles they have to clear, and the people who profit from trafficking in their hopes and dreams.”
Caption: “Teamwork: A joint enforcement action with Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents, Homeland Security Investigations and Webb County deputy constables uncovered a stash house in South Laredo with 33 undocumented aliens from Mexico.”
CBP posts a notice requesting that federal contractors suggest new anti-breaching and anti-climbing technology and tools by June 12 to make the border wall less vulnerable. Despite this, CBP states that the request “does not amount to an admission that the current design is inadequate or flawed.” CBP also invites proposals for “private party construction” that would allow investors to acquire land, build a barrier on it, and sell the project to the government.
A series of reports and multimedia presentations about the transit of migrants from other continents through Latin America en route to the United States.
Caption: “Yesterday evening Agents arrested two U.S. citizens smuggling three undocumented immigrants in the trunk of a vehicle with temperatures outside near 100 degrees. Zero regard for human life.”
Caption: “A brazen human smuggler led multiple agencies on a lengthy pursuit on May 15, when agents tried to conduct a vehicle stop on a pickup truck. @CBPAMO kept visual contact by air. 6 people were arrested, and 7 absconded into Mexico.”
Caption: “Smugglers continue to treat migrants like commodities. Since March 21, we’ve seen 28 smuggling cases involving tractor-trailers in RGV & Laredo Sectors.”
Caption in Spanish: “The coyotes don’t care about you. They just want your money. They abandon people. Don’t die in the desert. Don’t cross illegally.”
“Alamogordo #BPAs at the HWY70 checkpoint stopped a smuggling attempt by utilizing a license plate reader and X-ray technology to locate a subject hidden in a horse trailer.”
“Continually increasing pattern since the end of last month, Border Patrol Laredo Sector agents disrupted yet another large human smuggling attempt at the checkpoint.”
“USBP agents from El Centro Sector arrested a man attempting to smuggle 21 illegal aliens locked in the back of a tractor-trailer yesterday. With rising temperatures, these dangerous smuggling methods become more & more perilous.”
After stopping the fourth attempt to smuggle people into the U.S. by tractor-trailer in the last four months, El Centro Sector CBP agents warn the public of the strategy’s rising trend. This fourth attempt resulted in the apprehension of 42 migrants near Calexico, California.
