By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Encounters with immigrants remain high for the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office and show no signs of slowing, Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez said.
Martinez spoke to the 830 Times Friday about the ongoing immigrant situation and how his officers have dealt with that situation during June.
“With the immigrant situation, we’re still supporting our law enforcement partners, as we all work to keep our community safe. During the month of June, our deputies encountered 568 immigrants,” Martinez said.
“The numbers of immigrants our deputies have encountered have gone down a little bit because the DPS (Texas Department of Public Safety), they’re a solid presence there at the former Bordelon residence on the vega, and they’re everywhere else, so our immigrant numbers, I think, are really the stragglers that are making it into some communities such as Cienegas Terrace, Chaparral and we drive up on the border fence, in the area where it’s not finished, there on Frontera Road,” Martinez said.
“That’s where our Stonegarden units are still busy,” the sheriff added.
Asked if there were any crimes in the county that the sheriff’s office could directly link to the immigrants, Martinez said, “We’ve had one burglary during the past month that we could link directly to immigrants, at the Sindomar Ranch off U.S. Highway 90 east of Del Rio, and that’s the only one that we’ve had.
“On that one, it was a joint effort with the Kinney County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety. There were six individuals arrested. Kinney County detained them, and we got the warrants for their arrests,” Martinez said.
The sheriff said he is also unaware of any other “negative interactions” between immigrants and residents.
“I don’t recall any,” Martinez said when asked if he was aware of any such negative interactions.
“I have not received any,” agreed VVSO Chief Deputy Waylon Bullard.
“Things are, I’d say, quiet, but busy, with the exception of that one burglary, and in that burglary, they took food and water and drank some beer and stole an all-terrain vehicle that they drove cross-country and ended up 20 miles north of Brackettville,” Martinez said.
Though his deputies may not be encountering as many immigrants, Martinez said the flow of immigrants shows no sign of stopping.
“There is absolutely no sign of it letting up,” he said.
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