Federal and local law enforcement leaders on Wednesday declared a World Cup-focused crackdown an “extraordinary success,” saying the effort swept up hundreds of dangerous offenders, seized large amounts of narcotics and took hundreds of firearms off North Texas streets.
The initiative, called Operation Red Card, began in mid-March and is scheduled to wrap up next week. It has so far led to more than 250 federal indictments in the Northern District of Texas, U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said.
Raybould described those arrested as “some of the worst of the worst” and said the operation was meant to help “clean up our streets” before FIFA arrives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in June.
“Come to North Texas and commit a crime if you dare,” Raybould warned during a news conference at the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse in downtown Dallas. He stood alongside the heads of several federal agency field offices and police chiefs from across the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“We’re ready to protect and serve, and there is no one who will work harder to put you behind bars than this group up here.”
The operation’s end comes as North Texas prepares to host nine World Cup matches from June 14 to July 14 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Dallas is set to host the official FIFA Fan Festival at Fair Park and serve as home to the tournament’s International Broadcast Center and Tournament Operations Center at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
Raybould ticked through the numbers at the news conference: 800 kilograms of methamphetamine, 50 kilograms of cocaine and 20 kilograms of fentanyl seized; 280 firearms recovered; and $6 million in cash taken into law enforcement custody.
The matter of immigration enforcement — a particular focus of President Donald Trump in his second presidential term — was highlighted by U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs, the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Texas.
During the operation, Combs said, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were pursuing a man in Lewisville who was in the country illegally when he rammed their vehicle, deploying the airbags and sending one injured agent to the hospital. A news release earlier this month said a second officer was injured during the pursuit.
Earlier this month, a federal grand jury indicted the man, identified as Jose Hernandez Medina, on charges of assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers and illegal reentry into the U.S. The news release from the office said he had been deported from the United States to Mexico on at least three different occasions.
If convicted, Hernandez Medina faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each assault charge and up to two years on the illegal reentry charge. Messages to his attorney were not returned Wednesday evening.
The degree to which immigration enforcement was a factor in Operation Red Card was not clear. A representative from ICE did not speak at the news conference.
Combs declined to discuss the specifics of the case or what led agents to Hernandez Medina, citing the ongoing investigation. Other people in Hernandez Medina’s vehicle fled, he said.