A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper working in Laredo, Texas, observed a group of people suspected to be in the U.S. illegally get into the back of a commercial tractor-trailer. The trooper, working under Operation Lone Star stopped the truck for an inspection and found 11 people.
The trooper contacted Laredo Station Border Patrol agents to assist with identification and take custody of the suspected migrants, according to information obtained from Border Patrol officials. Agents arrived and conducted immigration interviews which identified the migrants as being citizens of Mexico and Guatemala.
The agents took custody of the 11 migrants after determining that none possessed documents allowing them to legally be present in the United States.
“Tractor-trailer loads can have catastrophic consequences” Border Patrol officials said in a written statement. “Thanks to the vigilant work of Texas DPS Troopers and Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents, these undocumented individuals were spared the real possibility of a tragedy.”
Breitbart Texas reports extensively on the frequently fatal tactic of smuggling migrants locked in the rear of tractor-trailers.
Earlier this month, sheriff’s office deputies in neighboring Hidalgo County teamed up with Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents after receiving a tip about a tractor-trailer allegedly being used to transport a large group of migrants. When the law enforcement team tracked down the truck, they found 84 migrants locked inside the trailer.
Earlier this year, agents in the Laredo Sector found nearly 500 migrants in nine tractor-trailer smuggling incidents in a single week, Breitbart Texas reported.
Unfortunately, this tactic can have deadly consequences. In June, Breitbart reported that at least 53 migrants died after being abandoned in a similar tractor-trailer rig in San Antonio. A senior law enforcement source on the scene told Breitbart Texas that 46 migrants were declared dead on the scene or at area hospitals and at least 16 others were taken to area hospitals. The dead-on-scene figure was later revised to 48. Five others died in the hours and days that followed.