A 14-year-old boy from Honduras. Six others from Mexico and Central America. All of them suffocated in a sealed, unventilated Union Pacific railcar in Laredo while temperatures outside were lethal. A seventh person was left for dead near train tracks in San Antonio. Eleven people have now been indicted and face life in prison — but seven families are already burying their loved ones. This happened in our state. That matters.
Smuggling networks keep operating because they exploit desperation and darkness — people hidden in cargo containers, no water, no air, no way out. Texas has the longest stretch of southern border in the country, and Laredo is one of the busiest crossings in North America. Our state has both the responsibility and the ability to take this seriously. Right now, Texas can do more to give local law enforcement the tools and training to identify and disrupt these smuggling operations before people die — not just prosecute after the fact. We need our state to fund coordinated anti-smuggling task forces and make sure Webb County and other border communities have real resources, not just tough talk.
I'm asking you to support dedicated state funding for border community law enforcement to investigate and disrupt human smuggling networks before more people die in our state's heat.
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