Image of video footage of Texas Department of Public Safety trooper interviews with unaccompanied minors arriving in Texas. The children, between ages 2-17, claim to arrive without their parents.

Texas Department of Public Safety

From The Center Square

By Bethany Blankley

Texas Department of Public Safety officers working through Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star, continue to apprehend “Special Interest Aliens” and unaccompanied minors illegally entering Texas from Mexico between ports of entry.

In one recently apprehended group, a two-year-old girl from El Salvador tells a trooper her age and that she arrived alone. He asks her in Spanish, “Are you by yourself?” She nods.

When asked how old she was, she held up two fingers. When asked, “Did you come with your parents?” she shook her head.

When asked where she was going, she replied, “With my mom and dad.” When asked, “Where are they?” she replied, “In the United States.”

She was holding a small piece of paper with a phone number and name on it.

She was one of 60 unaccompanied minors among a group of 211 foreign nationals who illegally crossed the border in Maverick County. The children’s ages ranged between 2 and 17.

In several videos posted by DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez, dozens of children interviewed claim to be between the ages of 4 and 17. They said they are from Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

They also said they were going to “California, Carolina, Florida, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Orlando, New York, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and ‘to the states’.”

“This is a stark example of the precarious journey these children make from their home country and how criminal organizations traffic these children across the southern border and further into the interior,” Olivarez said. “Regardless of political views, it is unacceptable for any child to be exposed to dangerous criminal trafficking networks.

“With a record number of unaccompanied children and hundreds of thousands missing, there is no one ensuring the safety and security of these children except for the men and women who are on the frontlines daily. Despite the criticism over the years, the reality is that many children are exploited and trafficked, never to be heard from again.”

Abbott lauded OLS officers at recent Thanksgiving events at the border, saying they are saving lives. DPS officers have rescued more than 900 unaccompanied children since OLS began in early 2021.

DPS officers also apprehended six SIAs from Mali and Angola who were in the group in Maverick County.

SIAs are noncitizens who, based “on an analysis of travel patterns,” are “known or evaluated to possibly have a nexus to terrorism” who “potentially poses a national security risk to the United States,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security explains. Having an SIA designation does not necessarily mean the individual is a terrorist, but their travel pattern “indicates a possible nexus to nefarious activity (including terrorism) and, at a minimum, provides indicators that necessitate heightened screening and further investigation,” DHS says.

Texas DPS has been sounding the alarm about an increased number of arrests of SIAs, The Center Square has reported. Recent arrests are primarily of men from countries of foreign concern, including Iran, a U.S. State Department designated State Sponsor of Terrorism.

Other SIAs DPS has apprehended are from Egypt, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Mali, and Turkey, The Center Square has reported.

President Joe Biden recently extended executive orders declaring multiple national emergencies, citing national security threats related to Iran, ISIS, Syria, Afghanistan, the DRC, among others, The Center Square reported.

Meanwhile, under Biden, Border Patrol agents identified “an exponential increase” in SIAs … with significant ties to terrorism” a retired sector chief told Congress, saying he was instructed not to publicize their arrests.

No administration has ever published the number of SIA arrests. In September, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Georgia, introduced a bill requiring the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to publish every month the number of arrested SIAs and their country of origin, The Center Square reported.