Investigators say human smugglers are targeting teens on apps like Tik-Tok and Instagram. They're offering them money to pick up migrants from Mexico.
Investigators say human smugglers are targeting teens on apps like Tik Tok and Instagram. They're offering them money to pick up migrants from Mexico. Migrants will cross over the Rio Grande from Mexico traveling through private property to get to state highways. That's where teen drivers will pick up migrants helping them travel to bigger cities like San Antonio, Austin or Houston.
"The smuggling organizations are starting to use and recruit juveniles through social media platforms. Tik Tok, Facebook, Twitter, even using WhatsApp for those encrypted messaging," Oliveras said. "There's always been an issue with human smuggling. But what we're seeing right now lately, which we have never seen in prior years is the use of juveniles. So, the smuggling organizations are starting to use and recruit juveniles through social media platforms.
The department of homeland security arrested around 1,700 human smugglers in 2020 and over 2,300 in 2021. Police think it could be worse this year. Kinney County includes 1,400 square miles, but only 16 miles border Mexico. Coe said they don’t operate like a typical border community, but the influx of migrants is starting to impact the town of around 2,000 people. "With narcotics, they tried to smuggle it in, and it gets caught. They've lost it.
"If they're 17 years old and we don't have we can't find a place to put them. We will book them in and PR bond them out, that way if they're caught doing the same thing in a week or two, there’s record that they're doing continuously which adds to the charge which adds to the sentencing," Coe said.
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