Hondurans released into U.S. with court dates for 2026

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square
https://www.thecentersquare.com/

The federal government is directing U.S. Border Patrol agents to release foreign nationals into the U.S. with “Notice to Appear/Warrant to Appear” forms for immigration court in 2026.

The Center Square obtained documents provided in a packet to foreign nationals who were processed by Border Patrol agents in Brownsville, Texas, were released and later apprehended in Jackson County, 260 miles north. Highway 59 is a major human smuggling route where an Operation Lone Star Task Force is operating to interdict criminals, state officials say.

Jackson County Sheriff Kelly Janica and his deputies are key players in the task force who’ve been involved in a range of interdiction activities, from seizing stolen cars, to apprehending smugglers, to arresting other perpetrators and fugitives.

Biden administration policies have been “an unmitigated disaster,” Janica argues, but now the “federal government is involved in legalized smuggling,” he told The Center Square.

Janica contacted The Center Square to describe a recent incident his deputy encountered.

On May 2, one of his deputies noticed a silver Toyota Tundra heading north on Highway 59 with five people sitting in the bed of the truck. The deputy pulled over the vehicle believing the group to be foreign nationals being smuggled north from the border.

According to his report, he observed “multiple Hispanic passengers in the bed of the truck and multiple Hispanic passengers in the cab.”

The driver, a 36-year-old man from Humble, said he was the son of a 63-year-old man sitting in the passenger seat to whom the vehicle was registered.

The deputy asked if all the occupants in the vehicle were in the U.S. legally and the driver said they were family members from Honduras who they picked up in Brownsville, Texas, and were driving to North Carolina.

All 11 being transported had Honduran identification cards or passports and were between the ages of 5 and 73, including four men and four women each, two boys, and one teenage girl. Three were minors, ages 5, 9 and 16.

They all had manila envelopes including “Notice to Appear/Warrant to Appear” papers, which are what Border Patrol agents give foreign nationals when they release them into the U.S.

The document states, “You are an arriving alien. The Department of Homeland Security alleges that you: 1. Are not a citizen or national of the United States; 2. You are a native of Honduras and citizen of Honduras; 3. On or about May 2, 2023, you applied for admission to the United States at a Brownsville, Texas, Port of Entry; 4. You are an immigrant not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa, reentry permit, border crossing card or other valid entry document required by the Immigration and Naturalization Act.