SOUTH TEXAS—The South Texas Campaign (STC) is conducting enforcement operations against transnational criminal organizations responsible for smuggling illegal aliens and drugs into the Rio Grande Valley. The STC has integrated the intelligence-gathering, analysis and targeting capabilities of its law enforcement and governmental partners to identify multiple subjects for arrest and prosecution.
Utilizing a flexible and unified workforce, the STC is mobilizing resources to supplement the manpower currently available to the U.S. Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector. This risk-based, whole-of-government approach not only augments ongoing operations in the Valley, it also enhances intelligence-based enforcement efforts, disrupting and degrading these criminal organizations’ operational capabilities throughout the area.
“The subjects we’ve identified are key players in the illicit networks that facilitate the majority of illegal cross-border activity in the area,” CBP South Texas Commander Robert L. Harris said. “These groups prey on illegal aliens by extorting money, confining them in deplorable conditions, and often physically and sexually assaulting them.”
South Texas Campaign operations serve to support the integration of investigative and operational capabilities of multiple law enforcement agencies, taking full advantage of the strengths of the entire law enforcement community in South Texas, to have the greatest impact possible on criminal organizations.
Arresting and working in partnership to prosecute those most responsible for illicit activity in the Rio Grande Valley will significantly deny these criminal groups the ability to operate in the South Texas Corridor, improving overall border security and ensuring safe and secure South Texas border communities.