Southwest
Cartels lure American teens to smuggle illegals: 'No idea what they're getting into' – and 'no way out'
Cartels are using flashy social media posts with piles of money, jewelry and luxury items to entice teens in America and Mexico to smuggle illegal immigrants across the U.S. border – and officials say the young people have no idea what they are getting mixed up in.
Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers arrested two Texas 19-year-olds Saturday for smuggling three migrants after they led police on a high-speed chase in a stolen vehicle, then crashed into a rancher’s fence. One of the men in the vehicle, Gerardo Jose Ojeda-Montiel, 33, was a Venezuelan national wanted on murder charges in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Texas DPS said.
Daniele Lopez-Vasquez of Austin, Texas, and Brian Guzman of Del Valle, Texas, were arrested and charged with evading arrest, smuggling of persons, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and unlawful carrying of a weapon.
Customs and Border Protection could not be reached for comment for more details about Ojeda-Montiel.
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Daniele Lopez-Vasquez, 19, and Brian Guzman, 19, both of Texas, were caught smuggling a 33-year-old Mexican national wanted for murder, and two others, according to Texas officials. (Chris Olivarez/X)
Texas DPS spokesman Chris Olivarez told Fox News Digital that the teens likely had no idea they were transporting a murder suspect. Typically, he said, teen smugglers are recruited via TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram or other social media sites. They then use encrypted messaging apps, usually WhatsApp, to communicate anonymously with cartel members, getting audio or text messages instructing them where to pick up their human payloads.
Olivarez said the Saturday arrests followed many of the patterns his agency sees with teen smugglers.
“In most cases they evade law enforcement, they get in these high-speed chases,” he said Wednesday. “They’re not only putting themselves and the people in danger, they’re putting innocent bystanders at risk. We’ve had cases where people are killed.”
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Gerardo Jose Ojeda-Montiel, 33, of Venezuela. Ojeda-Montiel was wanted for murder in the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to Texas DPS. (Chris Olivarez/X)
“They’re not thinking about the consequences – they’re thinking about the thrill, about quick money,” Olivarez told Fox News Digital.
“[They could be smuggling] someone who is wanted for murder, someone who is on a watch list,” he said. “We often see these juveniles with handguns. We believe they have those weapons for their safety; they don’t know who they’re smuggling.”
Of 40,400 arrests made by the Texas DPS’s Operation Lone Star in March and 36,100 felony charges among them, thousands are associated with human smuggling. The ages of offenders range from 18 to 66, according to data updated in January of this year.
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Pictured is a 14-year-old who was captured transporting immigrants across the Rio Grande in a ghillie suit on the week of April 28. (Chris Olivarez/X)
Olivarez said that cartels have long recruited teens for their drug and human trafficking operations because they often aren’t charged as adults.
“The cartels are well aware that there are less consequences, less prosecution when it comes to juveniles involved in human smuggling,” Olivarez continued. “If a juvenile is caught, for the most part, they are released to a parent or family member. Then they’re doing the same thing the following day.”
In some cases, Olivarez said, the juveniles are no older than 13.
Also last week, DPS arrested a 14-year-old boy from Mexico clad in a gillie suit who had been guiding a group of migrants across the Rio Grande in McAllen. Officers swooped in after the attempt was caught on a border security camera.
“To see a 14-year-old doing that, to see them wearing a camouflage suit, shows just how these cartels are using these juveniles,” Olivarez said.
Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson said although teens are often caught bringing migrants across the border, he’d never seen one apprehended in a ghillie suit. (Chris Olivarez/X)
The teen recruitment phenomenon extends into other border states. Last month, a 16-year-old was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol for cramming seven migrants into his car in Why, Arizona, Chief Patrol Agent John Modlin wrote in a post on X.
Former DEA Chief of Operations Michael Braun told Fox News Digital that these teens have “no idea what they’re getting into” when they get involved with the cartels, and that there’s “simply no way out once they make that first smuggling run.”
“Anyone believing differently simply doesn’t understand how the Mexican cartels operate,” Braun said. “They are the most powerful transnational drug trafficking and organized crime groups law enforcement has ever dealt with.”
Seven migrants were found packed into a van near Why, Arizona, April 28, 2024. The van was being driven by a 16-year-old American citizen, according to U.S. Border Patrol. (U.S. Border Patrol)
Mexican cartels have used Americans to conduct their smuggling operations for years – but Braun said they are now in a “full court press to exploit much younger Americans.”
“The cartels know teens are attracted to money and a sense of adventure, and their recruitment is facilitated by social media, which provides cartel recruiters with a practical level of anonymity,” he said.
Olivarez said he hadn’t seen a significant uptick in teens running migrants across the border, but that they’ve “always” been a “significant” portion of traffickers. Generally, he said, they are making $2,000 to $3,000 for every migrant they ferry into the U.S.
One of two Dallas teens arrested for smuggling in November, a 17-year-old, told NewsNation that he and his friend were offered $1,300 for the job after responding to an ad on Telegram.
They were pulled over by DPS for running a stop sign, and the teen said he knew he was “screwed” when he saw the red and blue lights.
A new state law passed by the Texas state legislature increased the minimum sentence from two to 10 years for people caught smuggling migrants, according to The Texas Tribune.
But the consequences extend further than just time behind bars, Olivarez and Braun said.
“They’re not only dealing with these criminals – there is an overall impact that this is going to have on their lives, especially if they want to go to school, college. They will have a criminal background,” Olivarez said, noting that felonies stay on juvenile’s records even after they come of age.
Braun said he feared that “it’s just a matter of time before we see American kids brutally victimized after making naive decisions and minor missteps that infuriate cartel bosses.”
“The Mexican cartels rely on the long-standing hallmarks of organized crime – corruption, intimidation and ruthless violence – to ensure mission success,” he said. “I’m talking about unconscionable forms of torture and murder that make designated terrorist organizations and traditional American organized crime families look like Boy Scouts.”
“Some will be recovered dead, whole or in pieces, after enduring ravenous forms of torture,” he continued. “Some will never be seen or heard from again. I don’t want to sound crude, I’m just telling it the way it is. This is what our government can expect if it doesn’t take its head out of the sand when it comes to border security.”
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is warning state health agencies about potential Chinese spying through medical technology.
Abbott directed Texas state health agencies and public university systems to address potential cybersecurity risks linked to Chinese-manufactured medical devices, citing concerns that sensitive patient data could be accessed by foreign actors.
“Governor @GregAbbott_TX released a letter directing state health agencies to mitigate data privacy concerns related to Chinese-sourced medical technologies,” Abbott’s office wrote Monday on X, releasing the letter.
“The Chinese Communist Party will not be allowed to spy on Texans.”
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Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott is warning of Chinese using medical technology to spy on Americans and his state. (Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)
In Monday’s letter to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), the Department of State Health Services (DSHS), the Texas Cyber Command (TXCC), and public university system chancellors, Abbott said recent federal warnings about vulnerabilities in certain patient monitoring devices underscore the need for heightened safeguards.
“Maintaining Texans’ physical security and protecting their personal privacy, especially as it relates to something as important and intimate as personal medical data, is of paramount importance,” Abbott wrote. “I will not let Communist China spy on Texans. State-owned medical facilities must ensure there are safeguards in place to protect Texans’ private medical data.”
The directive follows notices issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warning that certain Chinese-manufactured patient monitors — including the Contec CMS8000 and Epsimed MN-120 — contain cybersecurity vulnerabilities that could allow unauthorized remote access and the exfiltration of protected health information.
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Chinese medical technology spying was first warned from the Trump administration and now has Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott taking action. (Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket)
“These notices confirm the warnings of experts who have elevated the proliferation of Chinese-manufactured smart medical devices across our healthcare system as a serious data privacy concern,” Abbott wrote.
Under Abbott’s order, HHSC, DSHS, and public higher education systems must review procurement policies to ensure compliance with Executive Order GA-48, catalog network-connected medical devices, and assess cybersecurity protections at state-owned medical facilities.
The Texas Cyber Command is tasked with reviewing whether certain devices should be added to the state’s prohibited technology list and recommending further safeguards.
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Agencies must submit reports and recommendations to the governor’s office by April 17.
Those responses will help Abbott propose legislation next session aimed at protecting Texans’ medical data from foreign adversaries.
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PALM BEACH, Fla. — National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chair Sen. Tim Scott says he remains “incredibly optimistic” the GOP can not only hold but expand its current 53–47 majority in the fall 2026 midterm elections.
But as Republicans battle stiff political headwinds as the party in power in the nation’s capital traditionally loses seats in the midterms, and as the GOP faces a rough political climate fueled by economic concerns amid persistent inflation and President Donald Trump’s underwater approval ratings, Scott isn’t sugar-coating things.
“There’s no doubt the climate has gotten more and more difficult by the day, it seems like at times,” Scott said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital at an annual economic conference in Florida hosted by the Club for Growth, an influential and politically potent conservative political group that pushes for fiscal responsibility.
Scott in early February gave fellow GOP senators some straight talk about the party’s chances in the midterm elections, when he briefed his colleagues at a closed-door meeting, according to sources in the room.
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National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chair Sen. Tim Scott says he remains “incredibly optimistic” the GOP can not only hold but expand its majority. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
The NRSC chair told Fox News Digital in December 2025 that in the battle for the majority, “54 is clearly within our grasp right now, but with a little bit of luck, 55 is on our side.”
Asked again in his Fox News Digital interview Saturday, Scott said, “I think we have a possibility of more than 53 seats.”
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“The good news is we have a president who made promises, he’s been keeping those promises, and we have been able to recruit the highest quality candidates anyone could want in every single battleground state,” Scott said.
Republicans battle stiff political headwinds as the party in power in the nation’s capital traditionally loses seats in the midterms. (Cornell Watson/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
Highlighting seats the GOP’s aiming to flip, Scott pointed to Georgia, where Republicans view first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff as the most vulnerable Democrat seeking re-election in 2026. He also spotlighted open Democratic-held seats in battleground Michigan, swing state New Hampshire and blue-leaning Minnesota.
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Scott said he’s “incredibly optimistic, not only about holding the majority, but still expanding the majority through Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire and even Minnesota, we have a strong candidate.”
The candidate he was referring to in Minnesota is former NBC Sports reporter turned conservative activist and commentator Michele Tafoya.
Michele Tafoya is interviewed by Fox News Digital as she launches a Republican Senate campaign in Minnesota. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
But Democrats are targeting Maine, where longtime GOP Sen. Susan Collins is running for re-election in the blue-leaning northern New England state, and battleground North Carolina, where Republicans are defending an open seat in the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis.
Democrats are also trying to flip GOP-held Senate seats in Texas, Ohio, Alaska and Iowa, which are all red states.
“Voters are sick and tired of Trump and Senate Republicans’ toxic agenda raising prices and threatening their health care,” the rival Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) emphasized in a social media post. “Voters across the country are ready to send Senate Republicans packing this November.”
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In Texas, the NRSC is backing longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn, who is now facing off with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a MAGA firebrand, in a costly and combustible primary runoff.
Trump said in early March, following the primary election where no candidate in the crowded Republican field cracked 50% to win the nomination, that he would soon make an endorsement.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, left, President Donald Trump and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images; )
The NRSC and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who is also backing Cornyn, are concerned that a Paxton victory could give the Democrats a path to flipping the red seat, thanks to the state attorney general’s political baggage, including a plethora of past scandals and a current messy divorce.
“The one thing we know about John Cornyn is he will win Texas. If you want to have the clearest path of victory, John Cornyn is your guy,” Scott said. “President Trump is the only person that can make that a reality immediately through this runoff process.”
Scott said “we hope and pray” that Trump will endorse Cornyn. But he added: “The president is going to do what the president is going to do. I won’t pretend to influence his final decision, but I will say, I’m certainly praying for John Cornyn to be our our nominee.”
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Oil prices have shot up in the week and a half since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, instantly resulting in higher costs for gasoline across America. That’s a major concern for Republicans in a midterm election cycle where the economy, and specifically affordability, is the top concern of voters.
Gas prices in Newfields, New Hampshire, on March 9, 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News )
“I think the economy will continue to get better month over month,” an optimistic Scott predicted. “I think the rest of this year we’ll see unfolding good information, good facts about why the American people should focus on the Republican Party and keep us in the majority.”
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And with the annual tax filing deadline just more than a month away, Scott touted the numerous tax cuts kicking in this year in the GOP’s sweeping “big, beautiful bill,” which Trump signed into law in summer 2025.
Scott touted “a bigger tax return for millions of Americans, that’s great news. The more they see more money in their pockets, and the more they attribute it to the Republican Party, the better we’re going to do this election season.”
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Southwest
Savannah Guthrie spotted in NYC as search for missing mother enters sixth week with few answers
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TUCSON, Ariz. — “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie is back in New York City as the search for her missing mother enters its sixth week with little publicly known progress in her hometown of Tucson, Arizona.
Guthrie was photographed in public for the first time since her mother’s suspected abduction, alongside husband Mike Feldman and their young son in the Big Apple Sunday, days after an emotional reunion with her NBC colleagues and more than a month after her 84-year-old mother Nancy was last seen.
Nancy’s disappearance shocked the country — especially when the FBI released disturbing surveillance video of a masked man on her doorstep.
Savannah Guthrie spent weeks in Tucson with her siblings as the investigation played out — before she and her older sister, Annie, added bouquets of yellow flowers to a growing display at the foot of their mother’s driveway. She quietly flew home to New York last week.
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Savannah Guthrie is seen out in New York with her husband Michael Feldman as the “Today” show anchor makes her first public appearance more than five weeks after the suspected abduction of her mother, Nancy Guthrie. (ASPN / BACKGRID)
Sunday marked five weeks since the suspected kidnapping.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is leading the investigation, which is now being overseen by a task force consisting of local detectives and FBI agents.
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Savannah Guthrie visits the Today show at Rockefeller Plaza in New York on Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
No suspects have been publicly identified.
A masked man who appeared on Nancy Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera around the time authorities said she was taken is described as being of average height and build and carrying a black Ozark Trail backpack.
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Savannah Guthrie and her mother, Nancy Guthrie, are pictured Thursday, June 15, 2023. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
He appeared to be armed with a handgun as well. Law enforcement sources said he visited Nancy Guthrie’s home at least once in advance of her disappearance, wearing a similar disguise.
Other identifying details are scarce.
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The use of cadaver dogs is also on hold, according to authorities, who re-canvassed Nancy Guthrie’s neighborhood as recently as last week.
When asked if that meant they believed she is still alive, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos declined to discuss evidence in the case.
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“Anything is possible,” he told Fox News Digital.
Authorities have said they won’t consider the case cold until they run out of viable leads to follow up on — and tens of thousands have come in so far.
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There’s a reward of more than $1.2 million in play for information that leads to Nancy’s recovery.
Savannah Guthrie has asked anyone with information to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI.
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