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Small border town police respond to ongoing cross-border crime

Small border town police departments have to deal with the consequences of cross-border illegal activity.

SULLIVAN CITY, Texas — High speed chases, emergency rescues, drug and human smuggling busts: these are examples of small town police departments having to deal with the consequences of cross-border illegal activity.

Sullivan City Police Chief Richard Ozuna said they are doing what they can with the limited resources they have to help Border Patrol with what is considered the federal government’s job.

Ozuna shared footage with the KENS 5 Border Team recorded by his officers' body cameras, including video recorded Tuesday of a woman in distress. It was one of those moments where every second counts.

A Sullivan City police officer and a Border Patrol agent attended to the non-responsive woman found laying in the brush gasping for air and in a state of shock; a clear sign of a heat stroke. “Luckily, they were there to help save this woman’s life from dehydration,” Ozuna said.

The woman was part of a larger group of people who had walked about a mile in the scorching heat through the rural area of Hidalgo County after crossing the Rio Grande River.

“We have seen those type of scenarios increasing,” Ozuna said.

Ozuna’s department is composed of nine police officers who often have to turn to Border Patrol to assist with these types of calls. Fortunately for the woman, she was aided and transported to a local hospital, where she remains in critical condition.

“Calls come in and we’re always out there, we’re first responders,” said Ozuna.

The police chief said the area where the woman was found is a popular spot used by smugglers to move immigrants.

Rescues aren’t the only calls. Sometimes, in an effort to get smuggled further north, immigrants and traffickers take more desperate measures to evade law enforcement. Ozuna uses a video of a high speed chase recorded two weekends ago as an example.

“As soon as he pulls up behind them, he sees the driver bail out of the driver’s side, and there were people concealed in that vehicle that started bailing out through the passenger side,” Ozuna said.

Four men were arrested, three presumed undocumented immigrants and the driver. Several people were injured, but everyone survived. 20-year-old Jose Rafael Perez, was behind the wheel. He was likely recruited by organized crime, Ozuna said.

“They don’t care about anybody. They just want to make money and get their people across,” he said.

The Sullivan City Police Department responds to an average of one or two similar incidents per week involving undocumented immigrants. Ozuna said they could use some extra help as well.

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