The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) arrested multiple migrants wanted for heinous crimes like sexual assault of a child, in just the past few weeks.
In Laredo, Texas, DPS arrested a Honduran national wanted for sexual assault in Harris County during a traffic stop conducted as part of Operation Lone Star.
The stop happened just after 7 a.m. on Feb. 12, when a DPS trooper pulled over a 2011 International tractor trailer for a traffic violation.
Once the truck came to a stop, the driver and several passengers took off toward the brush, DPS said.
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With the help of additional agencies, seven illegal immigrants and the driver of the truck, 49-year-old Junior Adalid Montoya-Alvarez, were found and taken into custody.
DPS said Montoya-Alvarez is a Honduran national with lawful permanent status. He was arrested for human smuggling, and it was later discovered that he was wanted in Harris County for sexual assault.
The seven illegal immigrants who were taken into custody were from Guatemala and Mexico and, according to DPS, were referred to Border Patrol.
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The day before, 26-year-old Carols Daniel Espinoza-Arguello, a criminal illegal immigrant from Venezuela, was apprehended by DPS agents and state troopers in Socorro, after being pulled over for suspected human smuggling.
An investigation discovered Espinoza-Arguello was wanted by DPS for sexual assault of a child, and he was arrested and booked into the El Paso County Jail.
Espinoza-Arguello’s arrest ultimately led to a stash house nearby, where two illegal immigrants, also from Venezuela, were taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
A DPS trooper also pulled over a 1999 Dodge pickup truck on Feb. 6 for a traffic violation in Sullivan City.
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After performing a warrant check, the trooper determined that the passenger, 40-year-old Armando Alonso-Cortez, was a criminal illegal immigrant from Mexico. DPS said Alonso-Cortez was wanted by the Alton Police Department for sexual assault of a child. He was also considered a flight risk, DPS added.
Alonso-Cortez was arrested on the spot and handed over to the Alton Police Department.
Operation Lone Star was started under Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021.
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Since its inception, the operation has resulted in the apprehension of more than half a million illegal immigrants, stopped more than 140,000 illegal attempts to enter the U.S., made more than 50,000 criminal arrests, seized more than half a billion lethal doses of fentanyl, built more than 240 miles of border barriers and established the only National Guard base along the Texas-Mexico border.
“In short, Texas stepped up where the federal government refused and in doing so, protected all Americans from President Biden’s dangerous policies,” Abbott wrote in a letter to U.S. Congressional Members late last month.
Though he is proud of the operation, Abbott noted that its success came with a high price tag of more than $11.1 billion, which has been, and continues to be, paid by Texas taxpayers when it “should have been the federal government’s responsibility.”
In a document breaking down the costs, Abbott said that prior to the Biden administration, the state of Texas spent approximately $800 million every two years to supplement federal efforts at the border.
“The burden that our State has borne is a direct result of a refusal by the federal government to do its job,” Abbott wrote. “The work that Texas has done through Operation Lone Star has protected and will continue to benefit the entire country.”
House Republicans have introduced bills in the past requesting Texas be reimbursed for the billions spent on border security, but legislation has never been passed.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.
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