Lt. Chris Olivarez - Texas DPS Spokesperson Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Seven, twenty two or time here in Houston's warning us
this is a different kind of Loan Star. This is
Operation Loan Star. We're joined by Lieutenant Chris oliveris the
Texas DPS. Now that we have illegal immigration completely under control, Lieutenant,
I guess we can move on to other things like crime.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well exactly. Good morning, Jimmy. Great to be with you
and of course with your listeners today this morning. You know,
as we as we look back the last four years,
you know, we saw an unprecedented surge of illegal immigration
at the border, and that's why Governor Abit launched Operation
Loan Star back in March of twenty twenty one. And
now today with the new administration, we've seen a historic
low in illegal border crossings. When normally we would average

(00:38):
anywhere from eight to ten thousand illegal border crossings a
day to now we're down to anywhere between two to
three hundred for the entire southwest border. So a significant
change from one administration to the next. And now with that,
now that we have a partner now with the federal government,
now we are expanding Operation Loan Star to what it
is now Operation Loan Star two Points, which is now

(01:01):
focusing more on interior enforcement, working with ICE agents, working
with border patrol, trying to locate the worst of the
worst criminal legal aliens that are in our state. Right now,
we have nearly six thousand criminal legal aliens in a
State of Texas that have felony warrants, that have committed
dangerous crimes such as assaults, sex crimes, murder. So those

(01:24):
are the people that we want to locate, and by
working with federal agencies, it gives us a much more
robust border security operation, hence operational on Star two point zero.
So this is all part of Governor Abbot's expansive border mission,
and that's what we continue to do today, and that's
our commitment moving forward. Its locating those criminal legal aliens
in the state of Texas, also working along the border

(01:46):
as well, trying to prevent those that are trying to
sneak into the country as well.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Okay, so obviously there's gonna be an emphasis on the
cartel because the cartail is responsible for a lot of
bill legal activities, right.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Oh, absolutely, Jimmy. And that's one thing too. You know
the cartels, you know, they're very sophisticated. They know exactly
what's going on they're well aware the policy changes the administration,
the consequences. I mean, they're very discrete. Now it's more challenging,
more difficult for them to smuggle people across the border
or even drugs because there's so much more law enforcement
presence on the border, both state and federal. But again

(02:18):
doesn't mean that the cartails are going to stop. I
mean they're going to try to find their way to
make their money somehow. I mean they were making billions
of dollars the last four years off of human spuggling.
Now that has changed because there's a low volume now
at the border of people acrossing the border. So what
they're gonna do now is they're going to focus more
on drugs, cocaine and meth. We have seen an increase
in those type of drugs, but also still trying to

(02:39):
smuggle people across the border, but in small numbers, a
small volume of people and charge them more double triple
than what they normally would charge and not give an example.
You know, we had an operation that were working with
border patrol and we came across people from Central America
and they paid clots to six thousand dollars to get
across the border from Mexico to the United States, when
normally before they're about two to three thousand per person.

(03:02):
So the cartails are expanding their operations as well. I
mean that's why we continue to, you know, focus our
efforts in trying to combat them as much as we can,
because again, we do know they're going to try to
make their money and make their profits somehow, and that's
one thing that we have to keep a close eye on.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
What is the most effective way to try to locate
these criminals the ones where you're you're not sure where
they are. I know you're relying on some federal health here,
but how how important is is the public involved in
giving up information about people, especially people that they know
to be criminals, because I'm thinking there's the fair amount
of the public that wants them gone too.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Oh absolutely, I mean that's the biggest help I can
tell you right now. Yes, we have you know, we
have intel services and divisions within the DPS that provide
US intel and locating some of these criminals, also working
with our federal partners. But no one helps more than
the general public by providing information on anybody they may
see that they see in their communities that may be suspicious.

(03:58):
That's why we have I Watched Tech, which is an
app or you can even go online to report suspicious activity.
That helps us tremendously. Also, the governor has launched a
Crime Stoppers hotline where you can actually call in and
you can actually earn up to five thousand dollars if
it does need to an arrest for one of these
criminal legal aliens. So that is our Crime Stoppers hotline.

(04:19):
So the public plays a very vital role in trying
to locate these criminals as well as reporting suspicious activity.
You know, right now, Jimmy, in the city of Texas,
we face more threats now than we've ever had. We
see all these domestic threats that are taking place across
the state, even across the country, these ice facilities, border
patrol facilities. It's very dangerous times right now, and that's
why the public plays a vital role in reporting suspicious activity.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
All Right, thank you, Chris, good to talk to you.
As always, I appreciate it. Lieutenant Chris oliveris Texas DPS