Latest news with #Plantz
CBS News
30-07-2025
- General
- CBS News
Members of Minnesota task force share firsthand account of deadly Texas flooding aftermath
Crews in central Texas are still combing through debris, nearly a month after the tragic floods on July 4, which left at least 135 people dead. Search teams from around the country, including Minnesota, stepped up to help with search and recovery efforts after the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes. Minnesota Task Force 1, made up of primarily five agencies, just returned from a two-week mission in Texas. Now, team members are sharing their firsthand accounts of the natural disaster — both of heartbreak and heroism. "It's hard to process just how much water went through there in such a quick amount of time," search manager Brian Plantz said. "The amount of devastation and destruction down there is hard to describe. I was surprised to see the number of family photographs that we would find." Team members searched both sides of the river for about 100 miles with the help of their K-9s. "The dogs were rockstars; they were outstanding. Having the K-9s there to partner with, to have them able to clear those piles and definitively say that we can move past this, we can say there's no human remains inside that pile, was just critical to the mission," Plantz said. The dogs suffered fire ant bites and even a broken toe, but continued. Together with Task Force 1, they helped a community find some of what was lost. "The community down there was so appreciative of us and other task force members that were down there for the search and rescue," Plantz said. The team will have a few days to decompress, but members say they're ready for the next mission.
Fox News
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
ICE arrests 'predator' migrant convicted of secretly recording others in bathroom
ICE officials in Houston arrested an immigrant "predator" previously convicted of secretly recording others in a bathroom in one of the latest developments in President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. The immigrant, Mexican national Daniel Alejandro Tristan-Guerra, was arrested by Houston Homeland Security Investigations officials "when his guard was down" on Feb. 11, according to an ICE statement released on Friday. Tristan-Guerra, 28, was arrested in a small town called Hallettsville in Lavaca County, Texas. After his arrest, he was taken to the Victoria County Jail pending his removal from the U.S. While several law enforcement entities in Democrat-controlled cities and states are refusing to cooperate with the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations, this arrest was made following a joint investigation by ICE and the Victoria County Sheriff's Office. Tristan-Guerra was convicted on two counts of invasive visual recording in a bathroom in August 2021 after an investigation by ICE HSI Houston and the Victoria County Sheriff's Office. ICE and federal agents in Houston have been very active in recent weeks, making several arrests in addition to Tristan-Guerra, including the arrest of several suspected members of the international criminal migrant group Tren de Aragua. On Feb. 12, HSI Houston arrested three suspected Tren de Aragua associates wanted for their involvement in a multi-state sex trafficking ring operated by the group. Elsewhere in Texas, a South Texas man named Eusebio Cavazos, 33, pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle 36 illegal aliens in a tractor-trailer after an investigation by ICE and U.S. Border Patrol. Commenting on the recent operations, ICE HSI Houston Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz said "the days of transnational criminal organizations raking in billions in illicit profits each year by trampling on our nation's sovereignty and flooding our country with millions of unvetted aliens who could present a threat to public safety or national security are over." "The law enforcement community in Southeast Texas is united in our effort to restore law and order along the southern border by aggressively pursuing and dismantling human smuggling organizations and other criminal organizations who are bold enough to test our collective resolve," he said. Addressing Tristan-Guerra's recent arrest, Plantz commended local law enforcement for cooperating with ICE, which he said ensured the safety of the community. "Working alongside our partners in Lavaca County, ICE HSI special agents were able to safely apprehend him when his guard was down and minimize any threat to the public," said Plantz. "The residents in Southeast Texas can rest easier today knowing this predator has been removed from the community."
