Dimmit Co. has had a 332 percent increase in chases since border crisis began heating up

CARIZZO SPRINGS, Texas - Local law enforcement to the southwest of us are giving us a behind the scenes look at the crisis on the border.

Human smuggling and chases, sadly a part of the daily routine for deputies in Dimmit County.

I took a ride along with the deputies for an entire day and caught plenty on camera.

It’s now a new normal for Dimmit County deputies.

"It's really out of control is what it is," Dimmit County Sheriff Marion Boyd told us of the crisis.

From the moment we got boots on the ground, deputies were on the go.

"A small agency and getting five pursuits with illegals in a matter of a couple of hours, there's a major problem right there," Boyd said.

A huge increase in human smuggling Sheriff Boyd says started two weeks before the November Presidential Elections.

"We put stuff up like this in this corner because they walk all this brush," Deputy Abraham Garza told us, showing jackets, hats and shoes all left along fencing -- where immigrants are picked up and smuggled.

Carrizo springs, in Dimmit County, is not a border town.

Let me put things into perspective, Piedras Negras is 45 miles west and Nuevo Laredo is 83 miles south — meaning immigrants caught here have spent days walking in the heat — drinking from water troths until they’ve reached their pick-up point.

They leave everything behind, hoping they’re not caught by local law enforcement or border patrol agents.

"Sometimes you'll find them, they're giving up and they're exhausted," Garza said.

But things aren't always easy.

"Their tactics are very much more aggressive,” Garza revealed. “They run from [us], now, you're using stolen vehicles.”

Before a traffic stop, deputies run license plates – we caught one on camera.

The truck came back with no record.

As Garza turns on his sirens, the pickup quickly changes lanes -- left, *in the wrong direction* -- it cuts through oncoming traffic, plows through barbed wire and speeds through a ranch road.

All while the people sitting in the bed of the truck were bouncing around at high speeds.

The driver sees himself cornered and bails.

“It is absolutely out of control, it is you know, it's a crisis, a disaster," Boyd said.

Some chases are even in broad daylight through neighborhoods at more than 100 mph.

Others are at night.

"Don’t move, let me see your hands," Deputy Garza says as he pulls over a suspect in a small vehicle.

Moments later, four immigrants come piling out of the small car.

So, we asked, where are a lot of these drivers they pull over come from?

“You know, it seems like a lot of them that we catch are from San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas," Boyd said.

During our ride along, deputies pulled over a 26-year-old man from Austin.

“Right now, I’m being detained for picking up immigrants,” the man they arrested said to us in Spanish.

The driver of the white SUV, who did not want to be identified, says he was working in the area when he almost ran over a man.

He says, like a good Samaritan, he stopped to see if he was ok.

"He asked me, 'Can you give me a ride to the store,’" the man explained to us.

But it wasn't just one man, it was several people.

The driver had several camo back-packs in his trunk, jackets, hats, dirty water bottles.

All belonging to what deputies and border patrol believe were immigrants.

"All of a sudden the man said, "I'm getting out," I said "Hey, where are you going," and they all ran out," the man claims.

Later, Border Patrol was out searching for at least 10 immigrants who ran off into brushy areas.

Sheriff Boyd says without air support, sometimes it's difficult to catch them.

“They're so inundated, they're so busy, they just don't have enough manpower to handle the amount or the quantity of people that are coming across," Boyd said.

You've seen what deputies are dealing with, now let's put things into perspective.

Dimmit County has seen a 332 percent in crease in chases from Jan. 1 to March 30 this year compared to the same time frame in 2020.

In 2020, there were 22 total chases. This year, they saw 95.

"We've had deadly horribly deadly crashes," Boyd said.

Crashes like on one March 28, which left two innocent drivers hurt after a 20-year-old U.S. Citizen, a driver from Austin, fled from a trooper and several immigrants were arrested.

“The type people are coming across today and I'm not saying all of them, but I would say the vast majority of them, are people that are involved in, they have criminal histories, you know, they're not coming over here to make an honest living, they're coming over here to commit crimes,” Boyd said.

Sheriff Boyd says when drivers smuggling immigrants are pulled over -- he and his deputies are finding rifles, handgun ammunitions and even fake hand grenades.

“If you have a criminal that's afraid, pick up these illegals, then that tells you what we're dealing with,” Boyd said.

Most of the immigrants he says are from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala -- Central America.

Sheriff Boyd has been in law enforcement for more than 21 years and says has seen his fair share of immigrants -- but nothing like this.

“Ten or 12 years ago, you know, majority of them were from Mexico and you could tell you know, a lot of those were, you know, honest, hardworking people that just want to come make a better living for their family and I understand that, I'd probably do the same thing if I was from, you know, another country,” Boyd said.

As he and his deputies risk their lives daily, he hopes our leaders can take a bipartisan trip to his community and see for themselves what is really happening.

Hopefully putting an end to a decades long issue.

"It's all about money and really the root of it goes back to the cartels,” Boyd claimed. “I mean, who is actually benefitting from this, the cartels."

Since our ride along, Dimmit County Deputies have arrested dozens of immigrants and have had 23 chases.

Sheriff Boyd fears the summer heat will only put more lives at risk with no end in sight for those searching to immigrate into the U.S.