Houston Teacher Busted in Kinney County
And, Border Bills headed for Committee
Good morning, friends,
One of the stories late last week that got a lot of attention from off the Kinney County Sheriff’s Facebook page was a short item about a Houston school teacher who got busted for smuggling a load of illegal aliens through the County.
A lot of Houston area television stations were lighting up the phones down here, wanting more information.
It’s not hard to fathom why. Most people, it seems, assume that drivers participating in human smuggling are down-on-their-luck, desperate for cash, or are otherwise prone to bad decisions.
There was a lot of confusion initially, with some outlets reporting that Houston ISD had no knowledge of the driver. But, others have reported confirming it. As far as Kinney County is concerned, the man had an HISD ID card on him, indicating he teaches at Patrick Henry Middle School.
It is very rare to find someone who works in a professional capacity of some sort that is willing to risk it all for what amounts to just a few thousand dollars at most.
Ordinarily, when reporters contact us wanting interviews we try and refer them to the County Sheriff Brad Coe, or his Chief Deputy, Armando M. Garcia.
But, in one case, a call came in late, right before the holiday weekend, from KHOU— the CBS affiliate in Houston. We agreed to do what’s sometimes referred to as a “quick phoner,” where one calls in on a phone and answers a few questions. In this case, we didn’t want to speak too much about Gracia’s case in specific— because he’s yet to have his day in court, and the last thing one wants to do is complicate such matters.
Instead, we tried to focus on the risks involved in acting as a driver. It seemed like a good opportunity to discourage Houston residents from pressing their luck. Too many are showing up down here from Houston, thinking they’ll get away with it.
Many don’t realize just how locked down Kinney County is, with hidden cameras, license plate readers, and other technology. It isn’t nearly as much as one might find in certain counties in the RGV, but the remote locations and sparse population seems to make it easier for authorities to track drivers well before they even enter the county.
By the time an out-of-town driver reaches a typical smuggling hotspot, Deputies and State Troopers are usually already being vectored to their location— their vehicle flagged as being a potential smuggler.
To put it another way, many drivers are being observed in one form or another, and law enforcement is simply waiting for them to pick up a load before busting them. It’s our opinion that the majority of those who do get away with it, are only managing to do so when other drivers are tying up all other available law enforcement.
In the piece, we mentioned that basic entry-level drivers like Gracia appears to be, are being hired by cartel recruiters online who know they’re a distraction— they’re being hired, basically, to be put into handcuffs and make room for other more valuable loads and drivers to slip through the cracks. As far as the cartels are concerned, if they make it through, great. If they don’t, well, that’s fine. The drivers go to jail; their passengers get sent back to Mexico where they can try and try again with other drivers.
Here’s a link to KHOU’s piece, by a Reporter named Matt Dougherty. It includes links to the video report which has some small differences from the written version. Folks who are super curious about broadcasting techniques might enjoy taking a look at the video to see how Dougherty manages to make a complete piece out of a quick phoner, some assorted facts and a few photographs. It’s basic broadcasting stuff, but it takes some proficiency to do it well.
For what it’s worth— this isn’t the first time someone with a relatively white-collar job has been busted for smuggling illegal aliens in Kinney County. The Sheriff tells us he’s already arrested a preacher and a lawyer and a few others from unexpected professions. We don’t remember the preacher, but the attorney was a pretty wild one.
And finally— it’s going to be a big week this week at the State Legislature, with multiple border-relevant bills going before various committees for testimony.
Some of the bills have modest goals like boosting pay for border area lawmen.
Others are sweeping, like HB 20, which would create the border protection unit that’s been getting a lot of attention.
It all kicks off this morning, with the Senate’s Business & Commerce committee hearing a bill that would bar contractors from doing business with the State of Texas if they don’t participate in the “e-verify” program which checks the citizenship status of workers.
Here’s a link to the video page for the various committees at the Lege.
For a handy list of border-security bills that are coming up, why they’re important, and what committees will be hearing them, check out our associates at the Alliance for a Safe Texas, who rounded it all up on Sunday:
That should do it for now— it’s already a busy morning for Kinney County and Uvalde County workers, after word that a tanker-truck rolled over on Highway 90 between Brackettville and Uvalde, spilling what we believe is gasoline all over the roadway. Hazmat crews have been busy cleaning it up since being dispatched sometime around 4:00 AM, but the highway is still closed as we write this.
As always, this newsletter is an independent work product— produced without oversight by any Kinney County officials. Obviously in this particular edition, there is a tremendous amount of overlap between the newsletter and our day job at the County, handling public information requests. Ordinarily, we try to minimize such as much as we can. No one should mistake this newsletter as an official communication by the County. Any errors or other misdeeds are entirely our own.
Have a great day— we’ll be back again soon.