Over 200 illegal immigrants are found hidden in truck trailers near the Mexico border in Texas

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents intercepted two tractor trailers ferrying 218 undocumented migrants on a highway near the Mexico-United States in Texas. Border Patrol officers assigned to the Laredo Sector discovered 80 individuals hidden at a checkpoint on Interstate 35 west of Freer, Texas, the evening of December 5. CBP said the truck driver refused to stop for an initial inspection before complying with the agents' orders to stop the vehicle. A scan of the vehicle detected 'anomalies in the trailer'. Agents opened the hatch and found a group of individuals from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. The migrants were arrested pending investigation by Homeland Security Investigation. On December 4, a Border Patrol canine alerted the agents to the back of the trailer while the driver, a citizen of the United States, was being inspected at a checkpoint on the same highway. CBP agents subsequently opened the trailer and found 138 undocumented immigrants Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Nicaragua. The driver and the migrants were all taken into custody. In both incidents, most of the migrants were not wearing personal protective equipment to combat the spread of COVID-19. Each one of the individuals was tended to by paramedics, but did not require hospitalization. 'These two cases illustrate the dangerous amount of human smuggling using large commercial vehicles,' said Laredo Sector Chief Patrol Agent Matthew Hudak...MORE