A Guatemalan man was transported to a hospital after he was discovered hiding inside the landing gear compartment of a plane arriving in Florida, authorities said.
Agents working for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection explained the 26-year-old was apprehended once the flight from Guatemala landed early Saturday outside the Miami International Airport, WFTV reported.
Video footage showed the man with airport employees as he sat on the ground beneath the plane’s wing:
Authorities said the individual got into the compartment to “evade detection.”
Once medical staff evaluated the man, he was transported to a hospital to receive treatment, a news release said.
According to border patrol agents, “Persons are taking extreme risks when they try to conceal themselves in confined spaces such as an aircraft.”
Authorities said the incident is currently being investigated.
The flight was American Airlines number 1182, and the airline told Local 10 News the aircraft “was met by law enforcement due to a security issue.”
The airline is now cooperating with local authorities but did not provide more information.
Meanwhile, Saman Gonzalez, an attorney who has practiced immigration law for the past 18 years, told the outlet she never witnessed such an incident.
“This is quite a miraculous story for this man to put himself in such a dangerous situation,” the attorney commented.
Gonzalez also explained the man will probably be classified as a stowaway, which meant his only chance of staying in the United States was to win a potential asylum case.
“Once he asks for asylum and specifically states there is a fear of returning to his country, he will be designated a credible fear interview,” Gonzalez noted.
However, if the man was not given asylum, he will be returned to Guatemala in the near future at the expense of the airline, according to Gonzalez.
“Technically, they are supposed to be returned to their country at the cost of the carrier,” she added.
In April, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) told Breitbart News migrants he talked with at the southern border acknowledged they did not have legitimate asylum claims but were looking for economic benefits in America relative to their home countries.
“Not a single person claimed a genuine claim of asylum, something like, ‘I was persecuted because of my race or sex or I was persecuted because my political views,'” he noted.