In a special report on “60 Minutes,” the crisis at the Texas Southern border is explored, focusing on Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, aimed at enforcing immigration laws in the absence of federal action. Texas state troopers, like Trooper Jaclyn Gooding, are now tasked with combating human smuggling and trafficking alongside border patrol agents. Trooper Gooding’s patrols often result in the apprehension of migrants, including children, who are being exploited for profit by criminal organizations. The intensity of the situation is evident as troopers work long hours and are stationed far from home to address the overwhelming influx of illegal crossings. Despite the challenges, these state troopers are dedicated to protecting Texan citizens and upholding the law in their own backyard. The episode sheds light on the complexities and hardships faced by those on the front lines of the border crisis, highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive immigration reform.
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60 minutes overtime this week on 60 Minutes we are reporting on the crisis at the border the ground specifically the Texas Southern border and we are focused on something called operation Lone Star that is the brainchild of Republican Governor Greg Abbott where many say he is trying to take on the federal
Government in terms of whose job it is to enforce immigration policy in this country is not trying to impose its own law we’re simply trying to enforce the law that says that you cannot cross the border illegally and if you do you must be detained under operation lonar Texas
Authorities have erected razor wire barriers along the banks of the Rio Grand they have arrested thousands of migrants for trespassing in the state of Texas and they’ve deployed thousands of National Guard and state law enforcement officers around the State sending them to the Border all in the hopes of stopping illegal
Crossings we went on a ride along with Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Jaclyn Gooding looking for people smuggling when Trooper Gooding is out on patrol she’s looking for one thing primarily and that is Smugglers human traffickers I’m looking for what we’d call like criminal IND indicators
Um some of it might be Rental Vehicles a vehicle that’s a pickup truck that looks heavily weighted in the back I’ve seen a lot of different things personally it’s not out of the norm at all to see you know um six seven eight people piled in the back of a pickup truck you
Constantly see people in the backs of SUVs in the trunks of Cars one of my most recent Pursuits that I had that was involved in human smuggling there was a young child squished in the back seat with four people um and just like piled amongst adults so you see it all what
Are some of the things that you found when you P these cars over that the stuff you think about when you go home that makes keeps you up at night I think just in general seeing that these individuals especially children that have no choice in the matter are thought
Of as a commodity and their safety and their well-being really isn’t a concern it’s just about money to these uh cartels and gangs that are over these organizations so are you looking for the driver The Smuggler or are you looking for the people in the back I’m mainly
Looking for The Smuggler the driver um and I’m trying to get Intel from that stop as well because a lot of times the driver is kind of the bottom man at the totem pole how much has operation loone star changed your job as a state trooper uh operation loone star has
Changed our role tremendously um we went from normal Highway Patrol things like stopping cars for traffic infraction working crashes looking for uh driving while intoxicated drivers and now we still cover all those things but we’ve also enforcing different laws that have to do with human smuggling more so than we’ve ever
Seen in the past what percentage of your job now is border related what you say I’m stationed Del Rio so I would say the majority of my work is border related I have 90 95% is going to be in relation to the Border Trooper Gooding told us
That she’s stopped migrants who told her that they’ve been arrested as many as 10 times some of them while we were out on this ride along we came across a group of migrants about 50 of them got the pathway over here who had just illegally crossed into Texas across the Rio Grand
And they were in this spot being processed by the border patrol about to start their process of moving through the Asylum process in the United States Trooper Gooding told us that state troopers are often stationed far from home when they are doing these assignments at the border that they can be working
Uh shifts that last up to a week long and sometimes up to 16 hours a day it’s just such a crisis right now and we feel so overwhelmed that at the end of the day all I can do is my job and that’s it so do you feel overwhelmed by this it is
Very overwhelming it feels in a lot of ways I think not just to myself but to most of us working this it feels like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel right now why is a State Trooper doing what you’re doing isn’t this the job of the border patrol um immigration
You know is the job of border patrol but as a state trooper my job is to protect and serve Texas and we are we are in Texas this is our backyard and um we’re going to do whatever it takes to protect our citizens and enforce the laws of
Texas and so I think that that’s it’s just all entangled together at this point in time
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Video “Patrolling the border with a Texas state trooper” was uploaded on 03/04/2024 to Youtube Channel 60 Minutes