7 Migrants Found Hiding in Freight Train in South Texas

Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a group of migrants who smuggled themselves into the U.S. via freight train.

At about 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, agents working near Hebbronville, Texas, observed a person holding a rope on top of a grain hopper freight car. The man climbed down from the rail car and fled into the brush before agents made their way to the train, according to Laredo Sector Border Patrol officials.

The agents carried out a search of the grain hopper and found five people hiding inside. The migrants climbed out by utilizing a rope attached to the car’s hatch, officials stated.

After taking the five migrants into custody, the agents conducted a search of additional railroad cars and found two additional migrants in hiding.

The agents transported the seven migrants to the Border Patrol station for processing on immigration violations. They also conducted a biometric background investigation that identified the seven migrants as Mexican nationals who were illegally present in the U.S.

Earlier in the week, agents apprehended 100 additional migrants who had been packed into the back of tractor-trailer rigs as “human cargo.” In the first incident, agents assigned to the Interstate 35 checkpoint, located between Laredo and San Antonio, found 65 migrants locked in the back of a trailer at about 9 p.m. on September 23. The temperature in the truck was in excess of 90 degrees at the time.

The following morning at about 2:30 a.m., agents discovered 49 additional migrants in the back of a refrigerated tractor-trailer at the same inspection station. The temperature inside the refrigerated trailer was reported to be 59 degrees.

None of the migrants in these three incidents required medical attention, officials stated.