WASHINGTON — Jeh Johnson announces ‘Operation Coyote’ at U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement headquarters on July 22, 2014. (Dima Ansari/MEDILL)
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Cornyn said Wednesday he supports “Operation Coyote” – the federal government’s concerted effort to nab human smugglers at the U.S.-Mexican border.
“Operation Coyote is a welcome effort to round up the vile criminals who smuggle children and others for money, drugs and the sex trade,” Cornyn, D-Texas, said in an email. “But we have to continue taking the fight to these criminals by closing a loophole that has incentivized cartels and smugglers to bring thousands of children from Central America into Texas and the U.S.”
The operation is a 90-day surge undertaken by the Justice Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, deploying 60 special agents and support personnel in the Rio Grande Valley border sector. The targets are the smugglers moving human cargo to the U.S.-Mexican border.
“If we encounter human smugglers with children and adults, we’re going to be targeting them both,” said Carl Rusnok, ICE spokesman.
Launched on June 23, the operation has netted 192 smugglers, and more than $625,000 in illicit profits have been seized, according to officials.
There are no specific “goals” set for how many smugglers the Department of Homeland Security hopes to catch, but the operation is about using available resources to catch the coyotes, Rusnok said.
And the focus is the Rio Grande Valley area: “That’s where most of the activity is right now,” Rusnok said.
“We’ll be doubling our efforts to work with the government of Mexico to identify, apprehend and prosecute smugglers who are aiding unaccompanied children … crossing the U.S. border,” said James Cole, deputy attorney general at the Justice Department.
At a news conference Tuesday, Cole said the United States needs to “build the capacity” of the governments of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to address the violence.
In a phone interview, Rusnok said Operation Coyote was not created specifically to address the influx of migrant children causing the current border crisis. The operation is “partially a media campaign” intended to send a warning to the human smugglers, Rusnok said.
In ordering 1,000 National Guard troops on Monday, Gov. Rick Perry told Chris Mathews of MSNBC the move involves “being able to send that message because it’s the visual of it that I think is the most important.”
Asked if Customs and Border Protection agents need the extra National Guard troops, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the “the governor at this point feels they are necessary.”
“The governor and the president had a conversation about this matter when President Obama was in Texas and the governor asked about the potential uses of the border National Guard and the president agreed to look at that,” Johnson said, “so we’re reviewing the options because we said we wanted to review all …lawful options.”