BRACKETTVILLE, Texas (NewsNation) — Deadly pursuits orchestrated by Mexican cartels are disrupting communities and ruining lives.
Amid an influx of high-speed chases along the southern U.S. border, officials have said it is happening too often and criminal organizations don’t care who gets hurt as long as they get paid.
Since 2022, there have been more than 60 cartel-related busts across the country with at least 300 people arrested or charged. Texas authorities have said they’re seeing more of them end in tragedy.
Cartels are dangling freedom in front of undocumented individuals, but it comes at a cost.
“They’re being taken advantage of; they’re being promised a better life,” said Kinney County, Texas Sheriff Brad Coe. “We’re gonna get you to St. Louis and you’re gonna have a good job, you’re gonna be able to have a house and kids and blah, blah, blah. So they’re buying into the story hook, line and sinker.”
Kinney County has been a hotbed for human and drug smuggling, and it’s getting deadlier and perhaps more desperate.
In Missouri, a driver took Texas DPS troopers on a chase Sunday topping speeds of 100 mph before crashing through a fence. The truck hit a tree and flipped, ejecting everyone inside.
The driver, who is now facing charges, is missing after checking himself out of the hospital.
“He needs to go to jail for life after he killed three people and injured another five,” Coe said.
A similar scene played out in Kinney County four months ago when a suspected smuggler tried to avoid spike strips during a pursuit; four people died.
“If they didn’t run, we wouldn’t have to chase them because obviously if they’re running they’ve committed some type of felony. So I am not gonna let a felon go,” Coe said.
In other sectors, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol also warn migrants of the dangers of crossing, but they say smugglers don’t care if they live or die.
This all comes as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security prepares to implement a new pursuit policy for Border Patrol that prohibits them from engaging in a chase.
Coe and a Texas DPS source both told NewsNation that they expect things to get much worse if the federal partners aren’t toeing the line — as the cartels will get wise and saturate the area more.