Val Verde County sheriff says smuggling remains a public-safety threat

Border numbers are down, but Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez says the smuggling problem has not gone away, and investigators in Del Rio are still hearing about activity along the rail and highway corridors that cut through the county.

Martinez’s warning landed against the backdrop of a deadly freight-train case that began in Del Rio and stretched on to San Antonio and Laredo, where seven migrants were found dead in and near train cars along the route. The Del Rio investigation that followed led to a raid and the arrest of a woman accused of harboring undocumented immigrants. Martinez said the deaths were tragic and that the people responsible should be held accountable.

The rail line remains a particular concern because the tracks run close and parallel to the Rio Grande, and trains typically do not stay in Del Rio very long. That makes the corridor a fast-moving target for smugglers and a continuing problem for local deputies trying to watch a border town where rail traffic, truck routes and cross-border movement overlap.

The larger picture helps explain why the sheriff is still sounding the alarm even as official numbers fall. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the Del Rio Sector has had a Border Patrol presence since July 1, 1924, covers 47 counties and has long served as a major staging area for narcotic and alien smuggling operations. CBP’s June 2026 update showed 6,070 southwest border apprehensions, a figure it said was 96% lower than the monthly average under the previous administration. A July 2025 update reported 4,601 southwest border apprehensions, down 92% from July 2024.

Even with those declines, the county remains exposed to the kind of trafficking that turns border policy into a public-safety question. The U.S. Department of Justice said smugglers in the San Antonio tractor-trailer case were sentenced to life in prison after 53 migrants died, a reminder of how quickly a smuggling run can turn into a mass-casualty crime.

For Val Verde County, the immediate issue is not just how many people cross, but who is moving through, how they are moving and what that costs local law enforcement to stop. Martinez’s message was that the pressure has eased in the statistics, but not enough on the ground to let investigators stand down.