Human Smugglers Pack 29 Migrants into Motor Home in AZ Desert near Border

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents arrested 29 migrants who had been packed by human smugglers into a motor home for transport through the desert near the Mexico border.

Agents from the Sonoita and Wilcox Border Patrol Stations in Arizona teamed up to stop a large motor home suspected of hauling migrants from the border into the U.S. interior. As the agents stopped the vehicle, multiple people exited and attempted to flee into the desert, according to a tweet from Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent John R. Modlin on Monday.

The agents found more than 20 migrants still inside the RV. A search of the area led to the arrest of a total of 29 migrants. The video tweeted by the chief shows the group of mostly single adult migrants packed shoulder-to-shoulder inside the motor home.

The Holiday Rambler motor home appears to have a fake rear license plate. Officials did not disclose the disposition of the recreational vehicle and towed ATV.

Human smugglers frequently put migrants in life-threatening situations during their attempts to move them into the U.S. interior.

Over the weekend, agents assigned to the Brian Terry Border Patrol station found a group of migrants locked in the bed of a pickup truck near Sierra Vista, Arizona. Chief Modlin reported that the agents arrested the driver, a juvenile U.S. citizen.

During a one-week period last month, El Paso Sector agents operating in New Mexico rescued seven migrants who became lost after being abandoned by their human smugglers, Breitbart Texas reported.

Rio Grande Valley Sector agents in South Texas found a group of 40 migrants locked inside large metal boxes loaded onto a flatbed trailer. A K-9 unit detected the load of smuggled migrants at the Falfurrias Border Patrol checkpoint. A 16×6 inch vent served as the only source of fresh air in the box.

In the Big Bend Sector of West Texas, agents found 38 overheated migrants locked inside a tractor-trailer compartment. The discovery came at the Interstate 10 immigration checkpoint near Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

“The fight against human smuggling is ongoing,” Big Bend Sector Chief Patrol Agent Sean L. McGoffin said in a written statement. “Organized human smugglers are putting innocent lives at risk, the thoroughness of our agents, and our K-9 partners, brought an end to this dangerous scheme.”