Nearly 120 illegal aliens were discovered hiding in a commercial trailer at a Border Patrol checkpoint in South Texas on Tuesday.
Agents manning an inspection point on U.S. Highway 83 near Laredo flagged a tractor-trailer after a service canine alerted to the vehicle, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) explained in a statement.
A total of 117 illegal aliens from Mexico and Guatemala were found inside and taken into custody.
The driver, a U.S. citizen, was arrested, and the truck and trailer were seized by Border Patrol.
We continue to see human smugglers putting profit ahead of the well-being of migrants & Americans.
USBP agents stopped another tractor-trailer smuggling attempt in Laredo—117 illegal aliens were packed inside without any COVID-19 precautions. https://t.co/MDdote3WRz pic.twitter.com/hR4BJFN2Js
— CBP Mark Morgan (@CBPMarkMorgan) October 1, 2020
“We continue to see human smugglers putting profit ahead of the well-being of migrants & Americans,” CBP chief Mark Morgan wrote on Twitter.
“USBP agents stopped another tractor-trailer smuggling attempt in Laredo—117 illegal aliens were packed inside without any COVID-19 precautions.”
Homeland Security Investigations has taken control of the investigation.
Just two days later, 29 illegal aliens from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras were found inside a belly dump trailer at a checkpoint near Freer, Texas.
The driver was also a U.S. citizen.
“The Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley (RGV) and Laredo (LRT) sectors in Texas have traditionally been the hot spot for tractor-trailers loaded with migrants,” CBP announced in late September. “In fiscal year 2020 through August, these two sectors have seen more than 226 tractor-trailer cases, with 3,740 individuals discovered concealed in these dangerous and life threating conditions. Just for LRT this represents a 37 percent increase from the same period in fiscal year 2019.”
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