37 Migrants Found Packed in Livestock Trailer in Texas 50 Miles from Border

Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents interdicted a human smuggling attempt where 37 migrants were packed into a livestock trailer. The agents found the migrants after a short pursuit where the alleged smuggler drove off the road and through a fence.

Hebbronville Station Border Patrol agents observed a pickup truck hauling a livestock trailer approaching the interior immigration checkpoint on Texas State Highway 359 on July 24. Agents observed the driver making a U-turn to presumably avoid inspection at the checkpoint, according to information obtained from Laredo Sector Border Patrol officials.

Agents began to follow the suspicious vehicle until it suddenly drove off the road and through the fence of a ranch near the checkpoint, officials reported. The driver and a passenger jumped out of the vehicle and fled into the brush. At that time, agents observed a group of migrants locked inside the livestock trailer with no means of escape.

Agents opened the trailer and conducted medical screening on 37 illegal immigrants. None required medical attention.

An immigration interview identified the migrants as having come to the United States from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, officials said.

Under Title 42 Coronavirus protection protocols, all 37 will likely be expelled to Mexico within hours of processing.

“Human smugglers continue to show brazen disregard for human life by using increasingly dangerous methods in their smuggling attempts,” Laredo Sector Border Patrol officials said in a written statement.

This is not the first report of migrants being treated like cattle or “human cargo.”

In December 2019, Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents found a group of migrants locked in a tractor-trailer wearing shirts marked in a fashion similar to “cargo and commodities,” Breitbart Texas reported.