One Sunday morning in 2021, Sheriff Roy Boyd and his 12-year-old son pulled out of their church’s parking lot and turned on to Highway 59 in Goliad County, Texas—a small county located about 25 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.
On the highway, Boyd passed a white pickup truck and noticed fingers from many different hands sticking out from underneath a sheet of plywood that covered the truck bed. He knew immediately: Migrants were being smuggled into the country.
He quickly called dispatch, but no deputies were available at the time.
“Hold on,” said Boyd, turning to his son. “We’re gonna have to stop them, and they’re gonna run.”
Boyd flipped on his police lights, and the truck suddenly appeared in his sights. He chased after the truck until it veered into the brush and crashed through a fence, its doors flying open as a dozen or more illegal immigrants scattered in different directions.
“Stay down!” Boyd yelled to the handful of men who hadn’t gotten far. Outnumbered, he handed his semiautomatic AR-15 to his son so he could handcuff about seven men until reinforcements arrived.
“My kids were raised with guns,” said Boyd. “So my son knew how to handle it.”