Kerr County Sheriff makes pitch on keeping smugglers out of area

As a grant recipient of Texas’ Operation LoneStar program, Kerr County received thousands of dollars to outfit deputies with new equipment to help intercept potential smugglers moving through Kerr County to routes east and west on Interstate 10.

While this was Sheriff Larry Leitha’s show, the star was Capt. Jason Waldrip, a seasoned former Department of Public Safety trooper and investigator, who heads up Kerr County’s Criminal Investigation Division. When Leitha became sheriff, he tapped two of his fellow DPS colleague — Chief Deputy Chris Lalonde and Waldrip to help transform the office. The result is an aggressive agency fighting drugs and illegal immigration.

Waldrip highlighted the statistics driving the county’s program, with 95 arrests on suspicion of human smuggling, with 345 illegal migrants turned over to the Border Patrol. Waldrip said these enforcement events began in 2021.

The Del Rio sector, which directly impacts Kerr County, is one of the busiest in the United States, with more than 200,000 Border Patrol encounters this year. The number of those evading the Border Patrol is unclear.

However, the number of people trying to cross at Del Rio is below last year’s pace — barely. In 2021, it was a surge of Haitians, and this year Cubans are coming in large numbers.

Waldrip candidly explained the difference between smuggling and trafficking. It is a frequent source of confusion but smuggled people are seeking entry into the United States. Trafficked people are, in most cases, used for sexual exploitation. In trafficking cases, Kerr County has recovered 11 people, and Waldrip emphasized that the mission isn’t going to stop.

But Texas’ emphasis on border protection, driven by Gov. Greg Abbott, puts the focus on regional agencies to help support a broader state law enforcement mission. Waldrip explained Kerr County works with various agencies, including neighboring sheriff’s offices, to gather intelligence that helps make arrests.

“We are preparing to put more pressure on these smuggling runs,” Waldrip told the audience.

Quantifying success with Operation Lone Star proves challenging because the state’s data frequently doesn’t align with federal numbers. In 2022, the nonprofit and nonpartisan Marshall Project said Texas provided data that was misleading or out of context.

But for this audience, the meat of the conversation came when Waldrip made subtle digs at President Joe Biden, frequently blamed for the surge of immigrants, and praised former President Donald Trump. They both drew applause.

However, Waldrip’s sincerity shone through with his belief that smugglers present a clear danger to Kerr County residents. It’s not uncommon for smugglers to lead law enforcement on dangerous pursuits. Those pursuits can end up crashing into private property — or worse, other vehicles.

Waldrip’s most significant ask, which drew a heady response, was for continued support from Kerr County residents, who have willingly invested in the office for extra equipment, not in the county budget.

In recent months immigration contacts by the U.S. Border Patrol have fallen by 4.4% in the Del Rio sector, and there are significant declines in Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley. At the same time, there are surging encounters in Arizona and California. Of course, Texas’ declining numbers are certainly to be touted by Gov. Greg Abbott, who poured resources into beefing up border security through his Operation Lone Star program. But the most significant surge is happening in El Paso, where Border Patrol and customs officials have encountered more than 300,000 people — up 88% from the previous year.

In Del Rio, the geopolitical troubles of Latin America continue to fuel the bulk of the immigrant surge into Texas. In 2023, more than 55,000 Cubans have been stopped by Border Patrol agents — in Del Rio alone. Mexico leads the way, with more than 60,000, but the surge of people from Honduras, Colombia and Nicaragua rounded out the top five.