Press Releases

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) will increase patrols beginning this weekend to ensure drivers stay focused and avoid distractions while driving. April 7 through April 14, the Texas Highway Patrol (THP) will conduct its annual Distracted Driving traffic enforcement campaign—looking for drivers who are texting, failing to Move Over or Slow down or otherwise distracted behind the wheel.

AUSTIN –The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is notifying drivers that they may experience a delay in obtaining an emissions inspection for vehicles registered in emissions counties due to intermittent connectivity issues.

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Texas Military Department (TMD) are aware of public reports that mischaracterize Beaver Island and Roma Island—two small islands along the Texas-Mexico border—as a “cartel-infested” “smuggler’s paradise,” “plagued by” rampant violence. These reports are inaccurate. Both DPS and TMD maintain operational control throughout the area where these islands are located. The State of Texas will never cede one square inch of its territory or allow terrorist organizations to gain a foothold to operate in the manner suggested by recent statements.

AUSTIN – On Wednesday, the Texas Senate confirmed Dan Hord III and Steven H. Stodghill as members of the Public Safety Commission (PSC). These confirmations follow Hord’s appointment and Stodghill’s reappointment to the PSC by Governor Greg Abbott last year. Both of their terms will expire on Jan. 1, 2030.

AUSTIN – For more than a year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD), the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and several other federal, state and local partners, have been investigating members and associates believed to be part of the Venezuelan transnational gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA).

AUSTIN – Texas 10 Most Wanted Criminal Illegal Immigrant Jassim Al-Samawi is this month’s Featured Fugitive. The reward for information leading to his arrest is increased to $6,000 during April if the tip is received this month.

AUSTIN – The Texas Rangers and the Laredo Police Department have identified the man believed to be responsible for the 2016 killing of 33-year-old Janette Escamilla Jaramillo, of Laredo. Almost a decade after Jaramillo’s death, a Webb Co. grand jury has indicted Sergio Mendez, 42.

WESLACO – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) arrested a confirmed gang member and seized 200 pounds of marijuana during an Operation Lone Star (OLS) traffic stop in Cameron Co. earlier this week.

AUSTIN – Today, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) welcomed 138 new Texas Highway Patrol Troopers from recruit Class C-2024 during a graduation ceremony at Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin. This is the department’s 177th graduating class.

AUSTIN – The man responsible for a series of online school shooting threats is behind bars thanks to a report submitted to the Texas Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) iWatchTexas program. Stephen Patrick Furr, 29, was arrested and charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Lubbock on Feb. 3, 2025.

AUSTIN – At the direction of Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) launched a new feature on the iWatchTexas Community Reporting System to protect the public from coercion and harassment by foreign adversaries. The new feature allows individuals to indicate their concern is related to foreign influence when submitting a report.

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) announces Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender Raymond Trejo is back in custody following his recent arrest. Authorities arrested Trejo in Stilwell, Okla. on March 12. A Crime Stoppers reward will be paid in his arrest.

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) announces the capture of another fugitive from Texas’ 10 Most Wanted Criminal Illegal Immigrants List. Rigoberto Enrique Valencia was taken into custody on Friday, March 14, in Liberty Co. A Crime Stoppers reward will not be paid in his arrest.

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has added Joseph Harris to the Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List. Texas Crime Stoppers is now offering a cash reward of up to $3,000 for information leading to his arrest. All tips are guaranteed to be anonymous.

WESLACO – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) seized more than six million dollars’ worth of cocaine in Hidalgo Co. as part of Operation Lone Star.