(NewsNation) — The Texas Department of Public Safety is employing cutting-edge technology to turn the tide on border-smuggling operations: drones.
NewsNation exclusively joined DPS officials on the Lone Star State’s border in the small town of Roma, Texas. Separated from Mexico by the Rio Grande, the area is a hotbed for cartels looking to move people or drugs across the border.
Texas state trooper Sgt. Guadalupe Casarez was one of the officials using drones to monitor potential smuggling activity along the river.
From Roma, Casarez said he can see cartel scouts patrolling the border on foot, in vehicles and in the air — using their own drones to spot Border Patrol agents and troopers — as they look for landing points for the small rafts carrying migrants into the United States.
One cartel guide had no idea that Casarez’s eye in the sky could see his every move. He brought two migrants from the bushes and made a run into a residential neighborhood.
“It’s an overall operation for them on their side,” Casarez said, explaining the process and planning needed to get people into the U.S. without detection.
The migrants believed they had made it into the U.S. undetected by authorities, and the smuggler thought his job was finished.
But Texas troopers operating the drones had already called back to Border Patrol agents patrolling nearby — and the pursuit was on. Border patrol agents rushed to the scene and arrested a female migrant.
Agents then quickly jumped into the bushes, attempting to chase down the cartel guide and a male migrant who were making a run for it.
The guide and the male migrant could be seen jumping into a raft, where another cartel scout was waiting to paddle them back to Mexico.
Drones like the ones used in this operation are equipped with heat sensors and play a crucial role in border security, Casarez said.
Troopers also place game cameras in strategic areas to catch smugglers, using motion alerts to pinpoint where they need to deploy. Cartel scouts have taken to stealing the surveillance cameras and returning to Mexico before law enforcement can arrive.
Texas DPS partners with U.S. Border Patrol agents and members of the Texas National Guard to try and track migrants that immigration officials characterize as “gotaways.”
In most cases, the Texas DPS works to determine if it can file state charges against those they encounter and charge them with smuggling people across the border. In other cases, U.S. Border Patrol officials file federal charges for human smuggling.
The agencies also work together to stop the flow of illegal drugs being moved across the U.S.-Mexico border.
NewsNation’s Jeff Arnold contributed to this report.
