LYTLE, Texas – The City of Lytle has added new notifications to its public push alert system after seeing an increase in human smuggling, high-speed pursuits, and bailouts of migrants.
“It’s insane and then they’re plowing through the middle of town. I mean just driving to a grocery store it’s like, pray to Jesus I make it home because you never know if they’re going to plow right through because they don’t care, they do not care,” said Eileen Jernigan, who lives in the Lytle area.
The high rate of speed in the pursuits is just one of the concerns for those who live in the area. The other is not knowing who could be on your property.
“We have land and it should be safe. It’s fenced but people are trespassing and it’s really scary,” said Serena Currie, a Lytle resident.
Lytle Police Chief Richard Priest said they normally don’t have issues with local crimes with the migrants in the bailouts. He adds, the biggest concern is the uptick of bailouts in the area.
In the last year, they went from 1-2 bailouts a month to 1-2 a day, according to Priest. The increase in activity led the city to add bailouts to its city emergency push alerts system.
“We notify them when the water pressure is low, we notify them when the weather may be bad, we notify them when we’re working on a road, we need to notify them in this scenario as well.”
On Friday morning, a bailout alert was sent out. It asked residents to be vigilant of 10-12 migrants running on foot.
The location is listed as the “Best Western area.” The notification includes landmarks when cross streets are an accurate enough location.
To sign up for the city of Lytle emergency alerts, follow the link.
