The 3E Texas Highway Patrol district is the Del Rio-based district of the Texas Department of Public Safety, covering a stretch of the Texas-Mexico border that includes Del Rio, Eagle Pass, and Carrizo Springs. It sits inside the Highway Patrol’s South Region and handles traffic enforcement, highway drug interdiction, and smuggling cases along a corridor that has become central to state border operations.
Where 3E Covers
The 3E district is headquartered in Del Rio and includes Val Verde, Kinney, Maverick, Edwards, and surrounding counties.1Texas DPS. Texas DPS District Map It is one of five districts in the South Region, alongside 3A (Weslaco), 3B (Laredo), 3C (Corpus Christi), and 3D (McAllen), which together cover the southern border from the Rio Grande Valley to western Val Verde County.2Texas DPS. Texas Highway Patrol District List
The territory is defined by its highways. U.S. 277, U.S. 90, and nearby Interstate 35 run through or next to the district, which is one reason highway-based interdiction dominates its caseload.1Texas DPS. Texas DPS District Map
What 3E Troopers Enforce
Day-to-day work in the 3E corridor is shaped by Operation Lone Star, the border security initiative Governor Greg Abbott launched in March 2021. The operation ties DPS together with the Texas Military Department and Texas Parks and Wildlife, with highway interdiction, human smuggling arrests, and drug seizures as the core priorities. DPS has reported that border troopers make between 80 and 100 criminal arrests per week.3The Center Square. Operation Lone Star Enforcement Data
Three kinds of cases turn up repeatedly in and around 3E.
Human Smuggling
In May 2026, a DPS trooper on I-35 in Webb County, adjacent to the 3E area, stopped a white Volvo truck tractor. The driver, 25-year-old Miguel Angel Velazquez Chavez, tried to run before being caught. Troopers found 20 undocumented migrants, including four minors from Mexico and Guatemala, hidden in the sleeping compartment. Velazquez Chavez was charged with evading arrest and smuggling of persons.4CBS News Texas. Texas DPS Traffic Stop Leads to Discovery of Migrants in Webb County
Stash Houses
On May 29, 2026, troopers in Eagle Pass uncovered a stash house at a Maverick County hotel after detecting marijuana odor and receiving consent to search. Four Honduran nationals were found inside. Two were identified as members of the Rollin’ 30s Crips, and one of them, Daniel Castillo Dionisio, was wanted by New Orleans police for armed robbery and aggravated assault with a firearm. Two U.S. citizens, Juella Monet Brown and Starr Ricki Drake, were charged with operation of a stash house.5Texas DPS. DPS Uncovers Stash House, Captures Wanted Criminal Illegal Immigrant Gang Member in Maverick County
Drug Trafficking
In February 2023, Leonardo Estrada, 41, of Del Rio, was arrested at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on Highway 277 near Eagle Pass after agents found 790 grams of methamphetamine and marijuana concealed beneath the carpet of his vehicle. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and was sentenced in April 2025 to 24 years in federal prison.6U.S. Department of Justice. Del Rio Man Sentenced to 24 Years in Federal Prison for Drug Trafficking DPS has documented cartels moving fentanyl and other drugs on Texas highways in personal vehicles, rentals, and tractor-trailers, concealing contraband in tires, firewalls, gas tanks, and aftermarket compartments.7Texas Comptroller. Fentanyl Crisis in Texas
The 3E Mounted Horse Patrol
In November 2024, DPS announced the 3E Mounted Horse Patrol, a specialized unit of Highway Patrol troopers and quarter horses that works rugged border terrain vehicles cannot easily reach. Three teams graduated from a six-week program that included four weeks of instruction through Customs and Border Protection’s National Horse Patrol Program, covering navigation, tracking, and mounted law enforcement operations.8Texas DPS. DPS Launches New Border Mounted Patrol Unit, Graduates Inaugural Class
The teams are stationed in Eagle Pass, Carrizo Springs, and Del Rio. During a two-week field training period before formal deployment, the unit helped apprehend 11 people attempting to enter the country illegally and worked with the Kinney County Sheriff’s Office to track suspects from vehicle bailouts, where smugglers abandon vehicles and their occupants flee on foot.9Times Record News. DPS Launches New Mounted Unit for Border
Who 3E Works With
Enforcement in the district runs on interagency coordination. The mounted unit trains directly with CBP, and troopers in the corridor work with Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and local sheriffs’ offices.8Texas DPS. DPS Launches New Border Mounted Patrol Unit, Graduates Inaugural Class The Estrada case, for example, was investigated jointly by HSI and the DEA and prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.6U.S. Department of Justice. Del Rio Man Sentenced to 24 Years in Federal Prison for Drug Trafficking
DPS also runs a Stash House Rewards Program that pays up to $5,000 for tips leading to the identification of smuggling safe houses, a tool used in the Maverick County hotel case.5Texas DPS. DPS Uncovers Stash House, Captures Wanted Criminal Illegal Immigrant Gang Member in Maverick County