Cameras Catch Illegal Immigrant Crackdown Far From Border (Local 2 Houston)

Cameras Catch Illegal Immigrant Crackdown Far From Border
By Robert Arnold
POSTED: 8:22 am CDT March 14, 2008

HOUSTON -- Local 2 Investigates a smuggling route funneling illegal immigrants into Houston. We discovered they are repeatedly being caught by the carloads hundreds of miles away from the border.
Our cameras caught bust after bust happening in Jackson County, just south of Houston. Investigative reporter Robert Arnold rode along with sheriff's deputies forced to face the smugglers.
"I mean, this is some organized human trafficking going on," Jackson County Sheriff Andy Louderback said. "We're seeing some of the same vehicles. We're seeing some of the same people associated from down in the valley."
Local 2 Investigates rode shotgun with Deputy Jason McCarrell as he scans the highway and back roads. He spots a Chevy sport utility vehicle speeding north on Highway 59. As we pull alongside of the vehicle, the driver seems nervous. The Chevy is a rental car, which is commonly used by smugglers.
McCarrell pulls the SUV over, but senses something is wrong, so he motions for the driver to get out. Within seconds, the driver of the Chevy speeds off.
McCarrell chases the SUV for less than a mile before the driver veers onto the shoulder and several illegal immigrants jump out and run toward the woods.
McCarell is able to chase down a man and woman. Several more illegal immigrants are still inside the SUV. One of them bolts out of a back door. A state game warden chases that man, but loses track of him in the woods.
In all, seven illegal immigrants were arrested.
One of them is a 16-year-old who told Arnold he paid $2,000 to be smuggled into Texas and has been traveling for 20 days. He said he was headed to Houston, hoping to find a job as a mechanic.
"It seems there are seasons when they're coming and when they're not," said Louderback. "Most of the jobs they're after are construction, outdoor-related, manual labor jobs. Those come available in the summer."
During another day Local 2 Investigates rode with McCarrell, he pulled over two men driving a pickup truck with Wyoming license plates. The plates on the truck actually belonged to another vehicle.
Both men only had identification cards from Mexico, but McCarrell suspects those may have been fraudulent because the signatures on both card were identical.
When McCarrell searched the men's truck, he found three birth certificates, none of which belong to the men.
"We're a main corridor," said Louderback. "We recently had some that were from China."
Louderback said dealing with these border-related problems can, at times, strain a department with only eight deputies and three investigators. But with the spring and summer months here, Louderback expects an increase in human smuggling.
"It's an organized effort. There's money to be made from trafficking humans," said Louderback. "They're headed to Houston. Houston is the draw that they're headed to."
Louderback also said there have been times when his deputies spotted so many car loads of illegal immigrants on the road at the same time they had to let some of them go because they just didn't have the manpower to chase down all of the cars.
Jackson County is now getting help through the Governor's Border Star program, which gives grant money and extra resources to all border counties. Jackson County is the tail end of the Coastal Bend region and will get more $200,000 specifically to help combat human smuggling.
Last year alone, Jackson County arrested close to 670 illegal immigrants, but also report approximately another 680 got away.