Brackettville Agents Arrest Human Smuggler, Two Illegal Aliens Face Deportation

U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Brackettville Station arrested a human smuggler and apprehended two illegal aliens Sunday in the latest enforcement action targeting smuggling networks operating through the Del Rio Sector.

The smuggler faces felony charges under federal alien smuggling statutes. The two individuals found in the smuggler's company are both subject to deportation proceedings, according to Border Patrol.

Brackettville sits at the heart of Kinney County, roughly 30 miles from the Texas-Mexico border and squarely within a smuggling corridor that law enforcement agencies have identified as a persistent pressure point in the Del Rio Sector. Agents at the station have repeatedly disrupted attempts by criminal organizations to move people deeper into Texas along the ranch roads and brush country that define this stretch of southwest Texas.

In issuing the felony charges, Del Rio Sector agents renewed a standing warning to anyone attempting to use the area as a transit route: enforcement is continuous, and smuggling operations will be met with federal prosecution. Suspected smugglers convicted under 8 USC § 1324 face sentences of up to 10 years in federal prison per count.

The two illegal aliens apprehended alongside the smuggler will be processed in accordance with U.S. Customs and Border Protection policy before being deported. Border Patrol asks anyone with information about suspicious activity in the region to call the Del Rio Sector's toll-free tip line at 1-866-511-8727.