Human Smugglers Pack 6 Migrants into Hearse in Arizona near Border

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents disrupted an uncommon human smuggling tactic when they found a group of migrants packed into a hearse. The agents found the six migrants wearing camouflage lying in the rear of the vehicle.

Tucson Sector remote camera operators observed a suspicious vehicle in a known human smuggling area near the Mexican border during the evening of November 9, according to information provided on Tuesday by Tucson Sector officials. Agents responded to the area and found the vehicle approximately four miles north of the border near Sasabe, Arizona.

The agents stopped the vehicle, a hearse, on State Road 286. As the agents approached the driver of the hearse, they observed a group of people wearing camouflage in the rear area.

The agents identified the passengers as foreign nationals illegally present in the U.S., officials stated. The agent arrested the driver and front-seat passenger on charges of human smuggling.

Border Patrol officials reportedly seized the hearse under Tucson Sector guidelines.

Elsewhere in the sector, Tucson Sector agents apprehended a dangerous criminal aliens who illegally re-entered the U.S., according to a tweet by Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent John R. Modlin. The chief identified the criminal alien as Vincente Lopez-Jacinto. A criminal records check revealed the Mexican citizen was previously convicted by a California court in Fresno Count for sexual intercourse with a minor under the age of 16, the tweet states.

Following his jail sentence, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers deported the convicted sex offender to Mexico. Officials did not disclose any additional criminal or immigration history.