BRACKETTVILLE, Texas — New video shows the moments after a suspected human smuggler bails out of his vehicle, and at least seven migrants try to run from authorities.
The chaos happened in Brackettville around 8:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. The video shows the migrants running in between the campuses of Brackett ISD.
Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe said when the incident happened, parents were still dropping off their children, while other children were walking into school to take the state STAAR Test.
“We had kids running back and forth across the street. We had kids trying to get into classrooms,” said Coe. “While at the same time, we had eight people running through town.”
U.S. Border Patrol took custody of the seven migrants shortly after the incident, and the driver was arrested.
Coe said then deputies reviewed school surveillance video which revealed another shocking detail: migrants and possibly the driver tried to blend in with the students and get into one of the schools.
“That's the part that's totally unacceptable,” said Coe.
The mayhem Tuesday morning is something, Coe said, is turning into routine for the people of Kinney County.
“Title 42, is getting ready to go away, and we're trying to prepare for it, but nobody knows what questions to actually ask,” said Coe. “Border Patrol doesn't even know exactly what they're going to be doing, what they're going to be facing, or what they're gonna try to do, but until they get something going, we can't do anything.”
Coe said law enforcement in this small rural county stopped over 700 human smuggling attempts last year.
Officers from Galveston County Constable’s Office and Goliad County Sheriff’s Office have volunteered to step in and help with cracking down on smuggling.
But, so far this year, Coe said from January to the end of April, the number of smuggling attempts officers stopped is now up to 275.
Coe he expects the number of human smuggling arrests will be more than 1,000 by the end of the year.
“One of the things that frustrates the community is they bail out and we only catch part of it. Where were the other two or three that are missing?” said Coe. “Especially with our schools right on the main highway, that poses to me a triple danger because, hey, we've got them in town, we've got a possible pursuit, we've got a possible bail-out, right on school property.”