[JustTheNews] A sheriff whose ancestors fought and died in the American Revolution and the Texas Revolution is continuing the fight for freedom in Goliad, Texas, this time against criminal cartels involved in a massive human and drug trafficking operation, he says.
Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd, a seventh-generation Texan who was elected in November 2020 after a 20-plus year career in law enforcement, is leading a multi-county task force to thwart what he says is a massive criminal network operating along Highway 59. The network stems from Mexico through Laredo to the trafficking distribution hub of Houston.
After Biden administration policies ushered in cartel activity through the southern border, Boyd said, Goliad found itself in the middle of a several hundred million dollar a month human trafficking operation.
Roughly 850 square-miles, the rural county’s winding roads are only interrupted by two stop lights. Its population is 7,400, and Boyd and multiple law enforcement officers are working to protect them from cartel activity in their community.
The border crisis isn’t about illegal immigration, Boyd argues, it’s about the lucrative business of human trafficking. Most who illegally enter at ports of entry do so by paying cartel operatives who orchestrate their crossing, the sheriff said. Once in the U.S., they owe the cartels thousands of dollars and work as indentured servants, Boyd said.
Those who enter illegally between ports of entry, intentionally evading law enforcement with many committing crimes along the way, are the ones Boyd and his task force are looking for, he said. They’re stealing cars, breaking into homes, committing sexual and other violent crimes, and trafficking large groups of people and unprecedented amounts of drugs, he said. Many are armed and dangerous, the sheriff added.
Goliad sits right in the middle of their route: a 2.5-hour drive from Mexico and a 2.5-hour drive to Houston, the largest city closest to the border and primary cartel destination in Texas.
Initially, Boyd only had two deputies. But because of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, he was able to hire more and is leading a strike force to thwart criminal activity. “Gov. Abbott threw us a lifeline,” he said. “Before Operation Lone Star, we were drowning.”
Goliad County was among the first to declare a state of disaster last year in response to the increased criminal activity perpetuated by what he says are Biden administration policies. The county was among the first to declare an invasion at the southern border – on July 5, 2022.
On a ride along, Boyd showed The Center Square a stash house hidden deep in the woods off a county road. No one would know it was there were it not for his team searching for it, he said. So far, they’ve found 16.
Stash houses are used by traffickers to hide and hold people illegally. The house observed by The Center Square was full of trash and clothes, had no water or electricity and was structurally unsound.
Boyd says his team is on track to make 500 arrests this year, up from 77 in previous years.
Potential criminals are warned by a sign at one county entrance. Translated from Spanish, it reads: “WARNING!!! Traffickers of drugs and humans turn around. Do not enter Goliad County or we will hunt you down and throw you in jail.” 
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