Fewer Smugglers Detained as Small Border Counties Run Out of Jail Space

Kinney County Constable Steve Gallegos and Kinney County Sheriff’s deputies arrest a smuggler and seven illegal aliens from Guatemala near Brackettville, Texas, on May 25, 2021. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

BRACKETTVILLE, Texas—Law enforcement authorities are releasing human smugglers with a citation rather than arresting them as counties struggle with a critical shortage in jail space.

Small counties aren’t set up for the overwhelming increase in cross-border crime, and smugglers who are here illegally are often passed to Border Patrol to be repatriated without being charged.