(The Center Square) \u2013 Texas Department of Public Safety officers working through Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s border security mission, Operation Lone Star, continue to apprehend \u201cSpecial Interest Aliens\u201d and unaccompanied minors illegally entering Texas from Mexico between ports of entry.<\/p>\n
In one recently apprehended group, a two-year-old girl from El Salvador tells a trooper her age and that she arrived alone. He asks her in Spanish, \u201cAre you by yourself?\u201d She nods.<\/p>\n
When asked how old she was, she held up two fingers. When asked, \u201cDid you come with your parents?\u201d she shook her head.<\/p>\n
When asked where she was going, she replied, \u201cWith my mom and dad.\u201d When asked, \u201cWhere are they?\u201d she replied, \u201cIn the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was holding a small piece of paper with a phone number and name on it.<\/p>\n
She was one of 60 unaccompanied minors among a group of 211 foreign nationals who illegally crossed the border in Maverick County. The children\u2019s ages ranged between 2 and 17.<\/p>\n
In several videos posted by DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez, dozens of children interviewed claim to be between the ages of 4 and 17. They said they are from Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.<\/p>\n
They also said they were going to \u201cCalifornia, Carolina, Florida, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Orlando, New York, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and \u2018to the states\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a stark example of the precarious journey these children make from their home country and how criminal organizations traffic these children across the southern border and further into the interior,\u201d Olivarez said. \u201cRegardless of political views, it is unacceptable for any child to be exposed to dangerous criminal trafficking networks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith a record number of unaccompanied children and hundreds of thousands missing, there is no one ensuring the safety and security of these children except for the men and women who are on the frontlines daily. Despite the criticism over the years, the reality is that many children are exploited and trafficked, never to be heard from again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abbott lauded OLS officers at recent Thanksgiving events at the border, saying they are saving lives. DPS officers have rescued more than 900 unaccompanied children since OLS began in early 2021.<\/p>\n
DPS officers also apprehended six SIAs from Mali and Angola who were in the group in Maverick County.<\/p>\n
SIAs are noncitizens who, based \u201con an analysis of travel patterns,\u201d are \u201cknown or evaluated to possibly have a nexus to terrorism\u201d who \u201cpotentially poses a national security risk to the United States,\u201d the U.S. Department of Homeland Security explains. Having an SIA designation does not necessarily mean the individual is a terrorist, but their travel pattern \u201cindicates a possible nexus to nefarious activity (including terrorism) and, at a minimum, provides indicators that necessitate heightened screening and further investigation,\u201d DHS says.<\/p>\n
Texas DPS has been sounding the alarm about an increased number of arrests of SIAs, The Center Square has reported. Recent arrests are primarily of men from countries of foreign concern, including Iran, a U.S. State Department designated State Sponsor of Terrorism.<\/p>\n
Other SIAs DPS has apprehended are from Egypt, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Mali, and Turkey, The Center Square has reported.<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden recently extended executive orders declaring multiple national emergencies, citing national security threats related to Iran, ISIS, Syria, Afghanistan, the DRC, among others, The Center Square reported<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, under Biden, Border Patrol agents identified \u201can exponential increase\u201d in SIAs \u2026 with significant ties to terrorism\u201d a retired sector chief told<\/a><\/strong> Congress, saying he was instructed not to publicize their arrests.<\/p>\n No administration has ever published the number of SIA arrests. In September, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Georgia, introduced a bill requiring the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to publish every month the number of arrested SIAs and their country of origin, The Center Square reported<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (The Center Square) \u2013 Texas Department of Public Safety officers working through Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23812],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}