Border patrol agents in Tucson, Arizona, arrested more human smugglers attempting to traffic illegal migrants in the trunks of vehicles. There have been two such incidents in the last several days.
On April 16, a driver attempted to avoid detection at the Nogales Station at the I-19 checkpoint. He sped away when agents asked him to participate in a secondary inspection. Agents went after the driver and apprehended him when he stopped after being followed by them. During a search of his Pontiac Sedan, agents found that a juvenile from Guatemala was locked in the trunk. The child had no way to escape in case of an accident.
Two days later on April 18, agents at the Douglas Station stopped a Buick Le Sabre. They saw three people hiding under a blanket in the backseat. The agents confirmed that these individuals were all illegal aliens. They found three more illegal aliens locked in the trunk.
A statement obtained by Breitbart Texas from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency stated that several of these illegal aliens had no knowledge of a trunk releasing mechanism. The CBP, a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security added, that although none of these subjects were injured, “traveling with a person in the trunk of a moving vehicle is dangerous due to heat, the possibility of an accident, or other unforeseen circumstances.”
Breitbart Texas has reported that the involvement of cartels in human smuggling and trafficking has turned the quest for the American Dream into a nightmare for illegal immigrants.
Breitbart Texas’ Ildefonso Ortiz reported in late January that more than 200 illegal aliens have been stuffed in car trunks, sealed into tractor trailers by human smugglers, or placed in danger through other tactics this past fiscal year as they attempt to get around inspection checkpoints. At the time of his report, the period of time measured was from October 1, 2015 through January 27, 2016.
Ortiz reported that a prepared statement from the U.S. Border Patrol said that “Human smugglers are callous individuals, who prey upon the desperation of immigrants. They have no regard for human life and treat immigrants as commodities. These unscrupulous individuals use tactics that place the lives of immigrants and the general public in extreme danger.”
In 2014, as Breitbart Texas reported, a shift in human smuggling routes turned the Rio Grande Valley area into the main corridor used by the Gulf Cartel to funnel thousands of Central American illegal aliens into Texas. The humanitarian crisis is a very profitable venture for criminals.
Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and judge in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2