10 Migrants Found Hidden Under Lumber in Truck Bed in Arizona

Human smugglers in Arizona endangered the lives of three migrant children by packing them with seven adults in the bed of a pickup truck. Border Patrol officials report the migrants were hidden under plywood in the rear of the truck.

Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent Sabri Dikman tweeted images of migrants packed under four sheets of plywood in the bed of a pickup truck. The 10 migrants, including three children, had no means of escaping and could have been seriously injured or killed in the event of a crash or abandonment by smugglers.

Tucson Station Border Patrol agents conducted an immigration inspection traffic stop on a 2000 Dodge Ram pickup truck on Highway 286 just north of the Arizona border with Mexico. During the inspection, agents found ten migrants concealed under four sheets of plywood, according to information received from Border Patrol officials.

“During the inspection, they found 10 undocumented individuals concealed beneath sheets of plywood in the truck bed,” Tucson Sector officials said in a written statement. “The bed’s tailgate was closed, dangerously trapping the migrants on top of each other without means of escape.”

The agents found seven adults and three minors, ages 4, 8, and 17, with the adults. Agents conducted immigration interviews and identified the migrants as citizens of Guatemala and Mexico.

The agents arrested the driver, a U.S. citizen, on federal charges of human smuggling.

Elsewhere in the sector, Douglas Station agents observed a small group of migrants coming out of the desert and climbing into the cargo area of a U-Haul truck. The agents conducted an immigration inspection traffic stop and found one migrant locked in the cargo area. The agents found two more migrants in the cabin of the truck.