Texas Border: Kidnapped Child Rescued; Stash House Busted; More Migrants Cross

Human smuggling activity is on the uptick along the Texas border with Mexico.

Guatemalan mother is reunited with her four-year-old daughter after human smugglers separated them. Photo by: Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) - El Paso, Texas

Authorities along the Texas border with Mexico are reporting an increase in human smuggling activity in recent days.

Homeland Security Investigators, along with Border Patrol Agents in El Paso scrambled to end a kidnapping after a Guatemalan woman reported that human smugglers had forcibly separated her from her four-year-old daughter. The child was rescued by federal agents near Las Cruces, New Mexico, and reunited with her mother. No details about the motive for the kidnapping or if there were arrests have been released.

El Paso Border Patrol Sector agents from their Ysleta station raided a "stash house" - apprehending several migrants in the process. Photo by: US Border Patrol

Border Patrol Agents from the El Paso Sector's Ysleta station raided a "stash house" resulting in the apprehensions of several migrants as well as the discovery of a shrine to "Santa Muerte" - considered by Mexican Cartels to be their "Patron Saint."

Shrine to "Santa Muerte" the "Patron Saint" of Mexican Cartels found in a human smuggling "stash house" in Ysleta, Texas. Photo by: US Border Patrol

"Stash houses" are way stations used by the cartels to house migrants or drugs before they are smuggled deeper into the country.

Meanwhile, further south along the Rio Grande border with Mexico come reports of an uptick in migrants crossing through private ranchland after entering the state illegally.

Texas DPS surveillance camera image of a human smuggling guide leading a group of migrants through a South Texas ranch. Photo by: Texas Dept. of Public Safety

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) says this week their "troopers made numerous arrests for criminal trespass after locating illegal immigrants sneaking through private ranches in an attempt to avoid detection in Maverick & Kinney Counties."

Surveillance video of migrants trespassing on private Terrell County ranchland after illegally entering the state from Mexico. Photo from: Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland

While in Terrell County, Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland reports an increase in human smuggling traffic there:

"Activity is beginning to pick up in Terrell County. Sanderson Border Patrol Agents assisted by the Texas Military Forces and the Terrell County Sheriff’s Office Operation Lone Star-funded Deputy have been (busy with) multiple groups (of migrants) the past few days. It is anticipated activity will continue to ramp up before the end of the year and prior to President Trump’s inauguration." -Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland via x.com

Texas Military Forces conduct "Mass Migration Tactical Drill" at the border with Mexico. Photo from: Office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott

Concerns that this increase in migrant crossings could turn into an all-out "rush" of the border has prompted the state to conduct "mass migration drills" this week along the Texas-Mexico border to ensure preparedness and to display "shows of force" to migrants and cartel human smugglers on the other side of the Rio Grande in hopes of deterring them from illegally crossing.

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Jack Beavers - US Border News