Dramatic video captured the moment a Texas National Guardsman was captured after allegedly smuggling an illegal immigrant to the southern border and leading police on a high-speed chase in his government-issued SUV.
Specialist Savion Amari Donovan Johnson, 26, is seen being dragged out of the vehicle by members of the Texas Department of Public Safety and Kinney County sheriff’s deputies.
WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
He was arrested Sunday in Bracketville after the chase, which reached speeds at over 100 mph and charged with evading arrest, smuggling of persons and unlawful carry of a weapon.
The soldier was deployed to the Eagle Pass crossing as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star State, according to NewsNation Now.
Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe told the outlet that Johnson turned around when he approached a Border Patrol checkpoint off Highway 674, where agents tried to stop him.
Texas DPS officers then used spike strips to get the SUV to come to a stop. The illegal immigrant jumped out and fled before he gave himself up and was later processed by Border Patrol, according to the outlet.
The suspect, who was armed, was promised $5,000 to $6,000 for smuggling the undocumented person, sources told NewsNation.
“We don’t know what’s going on in their lives to make them do this,” Coe told the outlet. “But they’re going to get caught.”
“If the allegations are true, the accused is a traitor and criminal,” a spokesman for 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. He deserves more,” he added.
Abbott has increased resources as part of Operation Lone Star, an effort to secure the southern border in what the state says is a lack of leadership from the federal government.
Video of the arrest emerged on the same day the state squared off against the Justice Department in oral arguments before a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals over its controversial anti-illegal immigration law.
The law, which allows local cops to arrest illegal immigrants, has been blocked after a lawsuit from the Biden administration.
“There’s always been people who cross the border,” Texas Solicitor General Aaron Nielson said in court, Fox News reported.
“But before, we talked about hundreds of thousands. Now, we talk about millions. Before, we talked about tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors. Now, we talk about hundreds of thousands. Before, we talked about a few countries. Now, we talk about essentially all countries,” he added.
The Post has reached out to the Texas Military Department for comment.
