Record Numbers of Prosecutions
What the Numbers May Suggest Outside Kinney County
Much is made here at the Cavalry - Dispatch about the numbers of cases being filed locally against illegal alien trespassers, and dead bodies found on area ranches. But the truth is, when compared to certain other areas around the state, the numbers may seem small.
For example, Kinney County Deputies and Border Patrol Agents have found about 15 dead illegal aliens so far this year, who probably expired from thirst and exposure, abandoned on local ranches by their traveling companions. In all of last year, they found 2.
Compare that to Brooks County, further south, but about 80 miles inland from the Border, near the town of Falfurrias, where authorities have found about 98 dead bodies so far. Heck, they may be up over 100 by now and it just hasn’t been reported somewhere for me to see it yet.
It’s a big difference. Chances are high, many of those deceased crossed the border in the Rio Grande Valley area. The RGV is the busiest zone in Texas, both historically, and in the current crisis. It has the easiest crossing points and a somewhat milder climate and geography. It also seems to be the one spot along the border where citizens and taxpayers seem to be taking the border crisis in stride. Perhaps they’re used to it. Or perhaps it’s an illusion of perception on my part, living so far away from there, and relying on the output from journalists based in the RGV.
Brooks County, readers may remember, is also the spot where DPS says illegal aliens tried to force their way into a man’s car while he was parked at a state rest stop along the highway.
Turning our attention back to Kinney County, for a moment, much is being made around the state of the release on no bail, or reduced bail of about 200 illegal aliens being held on on trespassing charges at the Dolph Briscoe Unit in Dilley, TX last week.
Texas law tries to ensure the right to speedy administration of criminal cases-- essentially guaranteeing release from jail if charges aren't filed quickly. Those 200 will still eventually face a day in court-- they just won't be rotting away in jail while awaiting that date.
County Attorney Brent Smith is quick to point out, he’s only dropped charges so far on 4 individuals. One was a man suffering from renal kidney failure. And the others had poor or incomplete statements of fact filed against them by law enforcement.
Smith says the release was also necessary to make room for more trespassers being arrested daily in Kinney County— roughly 50 a week.
As the Cavalry - Dispatch reported last week, Smith was in Austin -- testifying before lawmakers on the State Corrections Committee, about the need for more prosecutorial support in Kinney County in order to successfully manage record numbers of criminal trespassing cases that are being racked up in Kinney County.
In one week alone, Smith filed charges on 400 individual cases. The previous 5 years saw roughly 200 cases filed by the local County Attorney's office.
What may've surprised most of the lawmakers was hearing how the County Attorney’s Office in Kinney County is basically a 2-person operation: One Attorney and a secretary. Now, they're scrambling to provide some kind of assistance-- including legal staff from the "Border Prosecution Task Force," an organization made up mostly of District Attorneys from border-area counties. The County Attorney is now among their number, because the trespassing charges being filed against illegal immigrants are misdemeanors.
With Kinney County seeing such numbers, and other reports indicating numbers are up overall along the Texas Border, why are other communities not seeming to raise as much of a fuss?
It may be that they are, and it’s simply going unreported outside of a few scattered voices online.
It’s also entirely possible, that local governments do not wish to take on the financial burden that will come of widespread prosecutions in the absence of any kind of leadership from the Federal Government.
Every one of the cases filed in Kinney County represents a significant financial outlay. Each case requires attorneys, judges, clerks, bailiffs, transportation, and a multitude of other expenses, quickly illustrating the folly perhaps, of continuing to treat this as a simple law-enforcement issue.
There are already widely published reports of another mass of 65,000 Haitians and Central and South Americans passing up from Panama, through Mexico, on their way to the United States.
And, there’s persistent rumors that hundreds of thousands more are on their way behind them.
Meanwhile, an update to a report we published just as Haitians were beginning to gather beneath the Port of Entry in Del Rio. You may recall, Kinney County announcing plans to turn back NGO - chartered tour buses carrying illegal aliens from Del Rio to San Antonio.
As expected, local authorities in Val Verde County objected to the plan— we’re told, saying they would deny Kinney County access to their illegal alien processing facilities. Those facilities have been great help to an overwhelmed courthouse and magistrates in Kinney County. So, the plan to shut down NGO traffic appears to have been quietly set aside— demonstrating the value of logistical leverage writ small, just as shutting down the international bridge in Del Rio during the recent Haitian crisis demonstrated the value of logistical leverage writ large.
But, a lot has changed since then. Val Verde County is now trying to build a coalition of border-adjacent counties to sue the President and the White House for failure to secure the border.
Perhaps they will have also changed their minds about NGO bus traffic.
As always— thanks for reading and subscribing. It’s been a busy week in Kinney County. Just Monday morning alone, the Sheriff reported at least 3 different bailouts or chases in the County.