The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have developed a task force in southern Texas designed to fight criminal enterprises set up by transnationals.
In a posted release, Houston FBI office Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams said, "Foreign terror organizations who profit off violence, drugs, and human lives now face a united front unseen before in Houston."
The multi-agency task force is primarily coordinated by the FBI and Homeland Security under the abbreviation "HSTF," short for Homeland Security Task Force.
Williams described the approach as something brand new for the region by combining the work of law enforcement and intelligence agencies "focusing on hunting down and eradicating transnational criminals."
The approach may help law enforcement departments and agencies in the Houston area deal with what Williams called "newly designed terrorists" who he said have been "wreaking havoc in our neighborhoods."
Local departments, including the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and the Houston Police Department, are involved, along with the Texas Department of Public Safety and federal prosecutors. HSTF also has "overseas partners," which so far remain unidentified.
Federal enforcement agents say the coordinated work will help them infiltrate and charge those involved in developing criminal enterprises in the region, including "violent criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations."
Recent federal criminal enforcement actions point to some of the crimes the task force will be handling.
On Tuesday, the FBI reported the arrest of an undocumented Iranian national who had been living in Houston and is accused of running a crime operation in the city to import heroin and being involved in human smuggling.
The U.S. attorney's office in Houston reported that for just the first week of July, 236 people were charged by the office with immigration and border security crimes, with a majority involved in prior felonies for violent crime, narcotics, and immigration violations. A half dozen were charged with human smuggling.
Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
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