Texas authorities arrested a national guardsman on Sunday after he fled from officers while allegedly attempting to smuggle an illegal immigrant into the U.S.
Law enforcement officers of the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Kinney County Sheriff’s Department arrested Savion Johnson in Brackettville, Texas, after Johnson led law enforcement on a chase that reached speeds in excess of 100 mph, according to the New York Post. Johnson has been charged with evading arrest, human smuggling, and the unlawful carry of a weapon.
“If the allegations are true, the accused is a traitor and criminal,” Abbott Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris, press secretary for Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott, told Fox News in a statement.
“We have zero tolerance for Texans who violate laws that directly contradict the mission we are seeking to achieve. The accused’s illegal smuggling may subject him to a mandatory minimum prison sentence of at least 10 years,” Mahaleris added. “He deserves more.”
Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe identified Johnson as a member of the Texas National Guard who was taking part in Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, a Texas initiative to combat illegal immigration into the state from its border with Mexico, according to The New York Times.
“It’s not a good thing. But he’s not the first one we’ve picked up that’s associated with the National Guard,” Coe said. “We’ve picked up attorneys. Preachers. Old ones, young ones, juveniles. The money is out there.”
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Johnson was allegedly offered $5,000 to $6,000 to smuggle the alien, who was also arrested, according to the Post. Johnson allegedly sped away from a Border Patrol checkpoint in a government vehicle and led officers on a 15-mile chase. The vehicle was stopped after officers used spike strips to blow its tires.
Johnson is the latest law enforcement officer to be arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle aliens into the U.S. In June, authorities arrested two soldiers, including a national guardsman, in the same area as Johnson for allegedly smuggling illegal aliens.
Abbott’s latest efforts to combat illegal immigration into the United States involve the passage of a law that makes unlawful entry a state crime enforceable by local law enforcement. The law, scheduled to go into effect earlier this year, has been placed on hold by a panel of Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals judges while the court works through a legal challenge to the law’s constitutionality. The Biden administration has challenged the Texas law, arguing that immigration enforcement is strictly the domain of the federal government.