Del Rio, Texas \u2014 DEL RIO, Texas – Investigators are trying to determine the full route of a train tied to what may have been a deadly smuggling operation stretching from Del Rio through San Antonio and then to Laredo.<\/p>\n
So far, FOX SA has learned the train was in Del Rio before passing through San Antonio and heading south.<\/p>\n
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said Monday that investigators were looking into an alert connected to the train.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy understanding is that they received an alert from here at some point over the weekend,\u201d Salazar said.<\/p>\n
A man believed to be connected to the investigation was found dead Monday near railroad tracks in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
Sources tell FOX SA investigators believe the man may have fallen from the train or been pushed after a boxcar door may have been opened from outside the railcar.<\/p>\n
That discovery came one day before six people were found dead inside another boxcar in Laredo.<\/p>\n
Investigators believe that when the train split in San Antonio, other railcars may have continued toward Houston.<\/p>\n
FOX SA has contacted both the Harris County Sheriff\u2019s Office and the Houston Police Department to find out whether they are assisting in the investigation. So far, neither agency has responded.<\/p>\n
Sources also tell FOX SA sensors on the train went off in Del Rio, indicating a boxcar door may have been opened there as well.<\/p>\n
FOX SA investigative reporter Yami Virgin and photojournalist Paul Sanchez have flown over these same rail yards before with Air and Marine Operations as agents searched for migrants they believed were hiding near the trains.<\/p>\n
Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez said security around the rail yards in Del Rio has long been a concern because of how close the tracks run to the border.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe railroad is basically parallel to the Rio Grande, and this Burlington Northern goes east and west from Del Rio. You know, there\u2019s always Border Patrol in the area along that area,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n
The sheriff said trains typically do not stay in Del Rio very long.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you know, literally here the trains just come here, pick up a fresh crew and head out,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n
Martinez said while migrant encounters in the Del Rio sector have dropped significantly, smuggling activity has not disappeared.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you gotta think that some people are getting in under the radar. So I know that there\u2019s a lot of activity going on, speaking to some of our federal partners. I know that there\u2019s some activity going on, smuggling of people coming into the United States here in Val Verde County,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n
FOX SA will continue following the investigation as authorities work to determine where the train traveled and whether additional railcars were involved.<\/p>\n
Homeland Security Investigations is now the leading agency for this case, which now covers several counties. We have sent a request for more information to HSI so far, but they have not responded. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Del Rio, Texas \u2014 DEL RIO, Texas – Investigators are trying to determine the full route of a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":792501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,7202,7203,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-792500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-san-antonio","10":"tag-sanantonio","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-tx","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116565073364861107","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}